There is something intriguing to me about keeping track of the context around a project that is itself simply the context of a thing. It is all very convoluted, but in the convolution there is clarity.

From the author...

Essentially, this blog is an opportunity for me to discuss the process of writing these stories from within the character of Matthus Sparrowblade. Forcing myself to think about why he would include this story, and what questions he would be having, helps keep me honest.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

For various reasons, I have decided to change the format of this notebook. An its original inception, it was about context, but I found that in reality, I was simply picking topics of interest to me and then expounding on them. Such topics exist elsewhere (like here), and so I have decided to change the focus, from notes written on books and scrolls used during my research, to the marginalia of the stories themselves. I did not compile a single element of the Empyrean Corpus without commenting on the process, both of writing and of the lore behind each work.

In that light, I found one note on an early piece the Corpus, called " A Wail out of Summer" with a question and then a later answer. The question was thus:

"One of the key defining factors that makes a being an angel or a demon is their relationship to time. I cannot clearly hear see the difference between the two. What is it?"

And the answer:
"An angel exists outside of time, though he or she can still perceive it. A demon, on the other hand, still exists within the inevitable pull of time, but they have chosen to no longer progress, which is the only true defense against the ravages of time. Thus demons, though not necessarily subject to the most obvious manifestations of time (i.e. aging, among others), they are buried by its influence, which stagnates them and forces them inward on themselves."