Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Guest Blogger: Kirsi Salonen

One of the guests of my Fantasy Art posts was the very talented artist, Kirsi Salonen. As you might know from my interview with Kirsi, she is working on her debut in the writing world, the fantasy novel named “Ordera”. Kirsi was very kind and offers us a taste of her work through the prologue you can read here. Also the image from this post is one the pictures of her upcoming novel. Thank you Kirsi and I wait with interest your upcoming novel :)

Ordera – prologue
by Kirsi Salonen


“The truth is, that no matter the insurance of light in the darkness, the blind one is still blind”
- Kafko Qumer'moora, the chief of the Moora-tribe

Welcome to the introductory part of the story. It is important for you to know that this isn't a familiar fictional tale. This isn't something you've come to terms before. It is something completely new. It is a story of life.

Remember the first times when you asked how the world actually works? You ran around in that small woods nearby your house and watched frogs jumping out in the rain and looking at the sun really hurt your eyes, but you did it anyway. All of it was simply wonderful. The world made your heart sing. The world welcomed you in its embracing arms. All the answers were there in the horizon, waiting for you to discover.
“Discover”. Isn't that word such a rarity these days? But I can tell you… The same thing can happen again. If you close your eyes and think about how history is repeating itself somewhere else… Stop for a moment. Stop and let go of the running of time and the walls around your house.
Disconnect your life from your parents, your friends, your worries, stress, accustomed habits and even most fundamental laws, religions, beliefs and reasons of fear.
Just let the story guide you to another world and another time, and see it happening from someone else's eyes. Maybe you can discover something completely new.
That is my only wish as an author. To let you find yourself again.

Imagine a world without humans; anything that was ever created by humans; humans with all their restrictions, cultural heritages, philosophies, traditions, various gods and basic physics. Above all – discard the technology we know, the places we know, the talks and anatomy we know does not apply from now on. You can imagine it, if you let yourself.

Imagine you could see spirits from another consciousness, spirits who will protect you and guide you and help you on your journey through life. Imagine you could even see the world through eyes that can see the world as it is: naked and revealed; all its secrets uncovered; all the dark, gray, bright, smudged; all the light, beyond time, distances, levels of space, beyond all the dirt and steel. All of it finally leading to this point. What is true and what is real? Who decides those things? What makes us love the sunset and sunrise so much? Why do we all love the same thing but disagree on everything else?

Now you must imagine more.

Visualize a human-like being called a guroae (pronounced as guroi), who can multiply his/her strength, speed and abilities genetically and use body x times equal to their normal strength. Visualize a being that has no boundaries, but is bound by itself only. A guroae desires to control its own fate, forges its own blade and bows only to a society of massive unity and leading strength. A guroae is a mirror image of us as humans, a being with so much capacity and will, that it makes itself our idol-being. This book tells about that journey and what really becomes of that idol.

But Ordera isn't just about the guroae. There is more.
Now imagine a sangrae (pronounced as sangray), who can manipulate surrounding nature and this same energy that flows within a guroae by his/her will and compose 'chants' from that energy. The same strength that a guroae controls physically, a sangrae controls mentally.
These two races sound equal, right?

But it isn't this simple. Sangrae are the lesser ones. They act towards higher thinking instead of acting towards power and greed, so they are forced to take orders from their physical superiors. They succumb to this rule in time. They even embrace it as a part of life. Until something happens and this ancient order suddenly shakes. Changes start to occur like ripples across water, until it becomes a tidal wave, a tsunami.

So, overall, a question remains: what is the order? Who has ever created such thing, if it is destined to war against something else? Why is the order always in a state of chaos among men?What if the whole concept of order and rule is an orchestrated illusion?

This is Ordera – the place of the rule. Obey and live.

Little do we know about it even down here on Earth. Little do we know how it has all been there before us. Think about it for a moment.
It is strange how cultures and ages keep on coming and going, civilizations fall and rise like castles in the sand. With a quick glance, it sounds a lot like evolution. But it is still not quite so. Why do some things remain and keep on coming again in just slightly different form? Why do we still repeat the same patterns as we did thousands of years ago? It might even seem like some complex game of some higher control.
Have you ever thought about it?

Now is your chance to compare different realities, or keep them as the same.
A question is thrown in the air: do you live in it?

Well, here's the big thing: you can find all about our Earth and People through the people of Ordera.The story's leading characters are archetypes of different individuals, from which you can very well find yourself, tucked inside their personas.

Look and listen closely to what they are saying and where they are going. Can you learn from or agree on what they do or how they behave? Look even deeper inside you: would you follow their example? Do you even follow yourself at all?

”I believe, that all those mystical disappearances will lead to that one place, as now even your people are being taken there with a rope around their necks. I just won't sit back and watch this abuse and wait that time will correct it or assume those bastards will quit eventually. I have sworn an oath to myself: that I will never obey any laws but my own; the ones written inside me. That oath applies where ever I go, no matter which world I walk upon. I am aware that for this, I am alone, and alone I most likely always will be. That is the way I've chosen and it is my truth. Without truth I am indeed the feared monster behind these eyes you see.”
- Raeson ”Rei” Haverth, (an Ah'Arean aurora -mercenary)

5 comments:

Mihai A. said...

Interesting indeed :)

Barbara Martin said...

This author really has an intriguing premise here. Let's hope this book sees a great future.

Mihai A. said...

Kirsi is a very talented artist. Indeed the premises are good. I keep my fingers crossed for Kirsi and her book :)

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. Can we expect that we're going to see more, in whatever form it is?

Mihai A. said...

Kirsi, already launched a webiste for Ordera, in Finnish for now, but we can expect and English version in the near future as well.
And I hope we will see a published novel in the future :)