User blog:Varkanax39/The future of the XMS, the DR Trilogy, and my CBW career

Hey, CBW goers. I, Varkanax39, am back with another blog post. This, though, doesn't concern podcasts or other admin-y business. Nor is this exactly a storyline blog post. It's somewhere in between, where I'll answer some of the questions that I've been getting since Eternal Darkness was finished, as well as what the future may hold in terms of work on the wiki.

Before I begin, today is my birthday...I feel old now. I'm not going to spend a long time discussing this. I think I'll save long announcements until my anniversary on 5 January. But before I begin I'd just like to say thank you all, for sticking with the XMS and reading what I've put out there for so long. It's been a great journey so far, guys.

XMS
Firstly, many of you may have noticed, I haven't been editing as frequently as I once was. Part of this is due to the fact for a long time I was drained by the sheer enormity of Eternal Darkness and that I'd actually finished it that I really didn't have the strength to edit. Part of it was due to the fact that I'd been basically ignoring my family for weeks, and my two brothers were getting quite irritated with me for locking myself in my room after school to type for eight hours or so.

But part of it was also due to another reason. The thing is, I've basically lost interest in BIONICLE, and had for a long time even before I'd finished the XMS. I've basically sold all of my sets, and while I'd invested a ton of time in the series and felt I had to give it a satisfactory ending, I'd essentially lost interest in the toyline and the canon storyline.

That's not to say I've lost interest in the XMS. I assure you I have not. But the tale of Shardak, Valkyria, and Fairon has come to an end, and I see no reason to continue their saga. Mind you, I did leave the barest hint of a sequel open, but realistically I don't think I'll continue the series beyond that point. The ending was written so you could imagine what became of Shardak and Valkyria after the end. Anyone who wants to write fanfics based on that time period is welcome to. Well, fanfics of fanfics. Just note that they'd be non-canon in the core XMS universe.

But even then that doesn't mean I'm completely done with the XMS. I can confirm there will be at least one volume in a sort of prequel to the main series. I think I have at least one more BIONICLE novel in me before I'm done. '''This does not mean I'll leave after that, though. I hope to still be fully active around 2013.'''

Here's the shocker, though: It won't describe the Fall of Arcaea or the rise of the Ix Empire. It will be set before then. Why? Well, in its simplest terms, to describe the Fall and the rise of the Ix would, for me, be quite breathtaking, but at the same time would "demystify" that time period, so to speak. And while writing from the POV of Arcturas would be fun, and would clear up a lot of the visions Shardak had of the time period throughout the series, it would, at the same time, force me to fit too much into what I've already established in canon. For example, I'd be "doomed by canon", so to speak, to fit in everything that I wrote about in ED and the entire XMS into the prequel, something that, right now, doesn't appeal to me. Maybe later I'll change my mind, but at the moment I'd like to write something set in a completely different time period, that hasn't really been explored yet. Besides, at the moment, we've still got the story collaboration project stories set around the time in Arcaea. (see below).

What time period, you ask? Well, at the moment the information's classified, but I can say it does have resonant connections with the main storyline. It will probably be a single novel/novella, and definitely won't be the size of ''Eternal Darkness. ''It will revolve around a time before the true rise of Arcaean power began. If you have any names (which I'm terrible at coming up with) for use in the XMS prequel, please comment and leave suggestions.

Also, just one more thing.''' If you have any questions regarding the end of the XMS/the XMS as a whole, either ask here or on my talk page. I hope to do a complete Q&A in a later blog post, and knowing what the readers have questions about is quite helpful. Thanks.'''

Story Collaboration Project
I know, I've been saying I'll send these plans out for what seems like years now, but I"ve been hindered by exams, ED, and other matters. I'll try to get them out by the end of this week, that is, by 1 July. Thanks, writers, for putting up with me for so long.

DR Trilogy
The DR Trilogy is back in action! CB. J97 and I are forming plans on mibbit, and resurrecting old drafts. I'll be spending a third of my time now working on the XMS prequel, a third on my fanfiction on fanfiction.net, and the final third on the DR trilogy. I or CB will be working on the next chapter. Man, it's good to be back in action on this.

TEG Rewrite
This was a possibility for a while, but after much consideration, I don't think I'll be rewriting it. Honestly, I think it's fine the way it is. The only character that shouldn't actually be there (other than all those Toa) is Shardak, who could simply be a random Glatorian who shares the protagonist's name. Granted, it could use revision, but at the moment I don't care enough to rewrite it. I could spend years revising the XMS, but honestly, while it's not perfect, I like it for what it is- which is basically a writing exercise.

Other plans for the future
I'll be remaining active for a while now. I've got too many loose ends on the wiki to tie up before I leave for good. I almost definitely plan on becoming a novelist, and I think it's a fairly realistic goal. I'll definitely be writing a lot of fanfic and original fiction in the near future, and if you want to read anything I've wrote you can drop me a line, my email address is Varkanax40@gmail.com.

That's all, for now. Once again, thanks, and Varkanax out...