Hello Everyone! I hope you all have had a chance to check out Chapter 3 of Shadows Unveiled. Catch up on all parts of this plot line by reading the Prelude, Chapter 1, and Chapter 2.

As we are heading into the Great Jedi War in conflict with The Children of Mortis, I figured this would be a good time to give some more insight/history about this new faction, as well as tackle a #AskTheVoice session.

History and Inspiration for The Children

Early planning for The Children goes back to GJW: XIV in 2020. We knew going into it that “Collective Burn Out” was a pretty common feeling throughout the Brotherhood, as was the itch to face off against some proper Force users once again. However, it was a very low priority given we had to find a way to put the Collective on the shelf for a spell, as well as introduce greater conflict between our new fluctuating alliance factions of the Principate and the Revenants.

There was a handful of instigating factors in where the Children ended up from this time, however. We knew Avitus was going to use the Force to save Rath, and we had the recurring crystal appearances. This made a solid starting point for utilizing Avitus as a PoV and being guided to the Children.

The first actual character I designed for them was The Seer, which is why she was also the main one we saw for a long time. I wanted creepy and dark and ritualistic. AC: Valhalla was released in late 2020 and the Daughters of Lerion became a pretty major aesthetic inspiration, followed by just anything shaman/pagan ritualistic.

As no one has made a comment about it yet, her actual name of Rose Telsniw stems from a story group joke about Rose in the movie Titanic. Telsniw is Winslet backward, and the wonderful art by Atra used a photo of Kate Winslet as a starting point. I’ve dropped a few Titanic references here and there alongside her.

By the time the Seer had made her first appearance in fiction, however, I already had some good plans for several other important characters, especially for The Father, and The Harbinger. The Arbiter was stubbed out pretty well, but his “true” name didn’t get inspired until the RoS with the Lorem Ipsum issue on the subfaction pages. I knew at that time I had to make a major player with that name and gave his husband a name with the next few Latin words to boot.

Now we are still playing The Father pretty close to the chest, but The Harbinger has a few instigating factors. The name, hopefully obviously, comes from Mass Effect. I like the more serious nature of Harbinger when coupled with what is supposed to be the peaceful advancement of the Light. Secondly, the character himself is largely inspired by Homelander from The Boys. A sociopathic narcissistic “good guy”. We even gave him laser eyes.

As for the rest of The Children, I wanted to ensure we had an enemy that was more complicated than just mustache-twirling evil. They have good, mid, and bad. More than that they are a large reflection of what the Brotherhood is, just a bunch of people united behind a larger banner, with their own in-fighting and goals.

The Shadows Unveiled chapter format was specifically focused on individuals from each major sect of the Children to hopefully illustrate that fact, as well as give some actual insider views to how the Children work.

In terms of the different sects, and their components I wanted to make sure there was a clear focus on what each was working towards and contributing to the whole. Mixed with some Sanderson-inspired naming and me going super extra on it, that's how we ended up with The Lightbringers, Truthwardens, and Shadowseers.

Sects of The Children

All sects of the Children have the following granted feat:

Devotee: Like all members of The Children of Mortis, {{member}} is devoted to their cause. With a deep spiritual connection to the Force, and to The Father they are resistant to ideas or actions that go against their dogmatic views.

The Lightbringers

Check out their wiki here.

The Light-focused sect of the Children, led by the very much not a lightie Harbinger is comprised of three units.

The Dawnseekers are the Light-sided main recruiting branch. In addition to this, they are overall the Children’s main exploratory force, searching for ancient ruins, hidden knowledge, and Nexuses of the Force.

The Startouched are the Light-sided researchers. All their insight gets sent to the Truthwardens for consolidation. They also use the crystals the Children create in experimental weapons and armor.

The Flamesparkers are the primary offensive force for the Children, augmented with the weapons and arms developed by the Startouched.

All Lightbringers have the following granted feat:

Embrace The Light: Bolstered by their connection to the Light, all Lightbringers train to steel themselves against the darkness. {{member}} has developed an increased resistance against Force Powers typically associated with the Dark Side (Blackness, Force Lightning, Rage, Slow, Suppression, Terror).

The Truthwardens

Check out their wiki here.

Our middle ground of the Children comes in the form of the stoic Truthwardens. Under the leadership of the calm and rational Arbiter.

The Aegises as a counterpart to The Flamesparkers, these are the primary defensive forces of the Children, heavily relying on the vehicles and ships manufactured by the Rectifiers.

The Rectifiers are a research group, in charge of finding non-aligned information about the Force, as well as being an unbiased group to consolidate information about the Force from both Light and Dark siders. They utilize the Children’s crystals to craft vehicles and ships.

The Grayblades are the secret police group of the Children, protecting all sects from those who would betray the group as a whole.

All Truthwardens have the following granted feat:

Balance Point: As a Truthwarden, {{member}} has been trained to ignore the pulling of either side of the Force. Their pragmatic approach to the Force grants them increased stamina when utilizing Force Powers.

The Shadowseers

Check out their wiki here.

The Dark sided and ritualistic Shadowseers all follow the lead of the ancient Seer.

The Fateweavers attempt to divine the threads of the future, hoping to usher in the unchaining of the Force.

The Shadebreeders are the main researchers, using the crystals in tandem with organic life to create crystalline horrors, such as the ones we saw in the RoS.

The Nightfallers are the Dark side recruiters and spies for the Children.

All Shadowseers have the following granted feat:

Devil’s Sight: As a member of The Shadowseers, {{member}} has learned to live in the shadows. Molded by the darkness, they have developed Force-enhanced vision, allowing them to see clearly even in pitch darkness.

The Collective?

Because I’ve seen some murmurings about this I want to be absolutely crystal clear here.

The Collective are still an enemy faction. They will remain so. We have not destroyed them.

Please continue to use them. They will return to the spotlight down the road.

INSERT Friends “We were on a break” gif here kthx.

Player Alts and NPCs

We are removing the restrictions / the distinction between “alternative” characters and player-owned NPCs. All of the character slots you unlock will be treated as alternative characters to utilize without the restriction as in the ACC.

Ask The Voice

Korvis asks: Without spoilers, what plans do you have post GJW for the collective? And will we see a faction based competition like the last Rites of Supremacy?

The Collective are in a “rebuilding” phase fictionally. Because we knew there was some burnout and a strong desire for some Force using enemies we purposely put them in a fictional position to be not on the offense against us for a spell. Rath Oligard and co will 110% be returning down the road.

When? I dunno. My focus right now is getting past the GJW.

As for another faction-based competition. It was certainly a learning experience for the DC, one we wish we had pushed for the faction relationships earlier with the members. It's really up to the GM and DGM if we see another vendetta take a faction-based format, but I would say it's on the table.

Kamjin asks: What’s your favorite character that you’ve gotten to write with this GJW?

GJW isn’t written yet, just a very long bullet point list of the plot. So none yet.

As for lead-up with the Shadows Unveiled chapters, I’ve really enjoyed writing Kikiri and her rise from slave to an important member of the Children. The Seer whenever she shows up is always a blast, and finally peeling back some of the evil nature of The Harbinger in chapter 3 was very nice to get out.

Kamjin asks: What’s one bit of character backstory that isn’t stated in the fiction but you have in your head canon would you be willing to share?

This is a bit tricky to answer without giving away some things. But my headcanon is that The Seer totally both nursed The Harbinger as an infant and slept with him when he was older.

Korvis asks: What influenced the creation of the children of mortis plotline for the current GJW the most?

Long answer: See above.

Shorter answer: A lot of different media I’ve consumed over the years. Lots of big creepy stuff. Lots of Mass Effect poking through there, etc.

Kamjin asks Is there a player character in the DJB that you’d like to write into a fiction?

Nope, I don’t play favorites. We try to keep non-DC player character features to reward member activity in vendettas and avoid the notion of bias of any one character or clan being seen too frequently. The high-level macro level we have to run DB-wide plotlines at means it's a bad idea to focus on any one group when we have seven clans full of wonderful members.

Appius asks: Out of the three subgroups of the Children of Mortis (Lightbringers, Arbiters, Fateweavers), which one would Idris join if he had to choose one?

Idris would probably end up as a Truthwarden, likely a Grayblade. It's pretty much the closest to being a “bounty hunter” and he doesn’t really buy into the sway of light/dark as an NFU.

Appius asks: Truthfully, (see what I did there?) What has been your favourite part of creating the Children of Mortis? How did you come up with them? How disappointed is other Mav going to be when he realises there's no Mother?

My favorite part has been the trust Evant and Bubba have given me in creating them. They really just told me to go and make a Force using an enemy group and have been down for every crazy thing I’ve come up with so far. Getting free reign to make my own lasting enemy group for the club is like a dream come true.

In terms of coming up with them, see above.

Other-Mav is so deep in denial he will never accept it.

Turel asks: What would you like to see with members and units incorporating the CoM into their personal and collective stories both during the GJW and beyond?

Literally, any usage excites me. I put a lot of effort into trying to make them accessible to use and seeing members and units use them is very fulfilling. Given they are thousands of years old and have very different sects to them I hope people find unexpected ways to weave them into their stories.

Kamjin asks: What do you find to be the most difficult to write?

Player characters stress me out the most, as I want to make sure they are done properly. I also hate any flirty romantic bits just cause I don’t write those well.

Kamjin asks: What’s your bucket list story(ies) you want to write as Voice?

Just getting to write the macro club plots, in general, was my bucket list item. Doing the larger clan events was one of my favorite bits of being CON, and getting to help do that for the whole club is a dream come true.

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