The Inspiration Behind Arx

So. In the last entry, I know I said I'd aim to post twice a month. And life threw a curveball. And now I think once a month sounds more realistic. Sorry about that folks >.> It will happen each month, I promise!!!

Miracles of Arx Nubibus has been publicly posted for about three and a half years now. We had a third anniversary party back in May, and when I went to start posting Mimi's Diary again, I asked my Discord Patron group what sort of topics they wanted to see written about. One of the suggested topics was the general inspiration behind the story itself. I've been asked this question a couple of times, and it's a little tricky to answer, but I'll do my best! And on my own website I have all the ramble room I want! Muahahahaha.

I started conceptualizing Miracles of Arx Nubibus around maybe January of 2022. The first sparks came earlier, and I suppose I was influenced by the superhero fever of the 2010-2020 decade. That was kind of when Marvel was at its peak, and My Hero Academia was also quite popular. DC was also reentering the superhero mix, and with all that media floating around I thought I'd like to try writing my own superhero story. I had no idea what I'd do with it, but I did know that I wanted to try it out.

I graduated from university in spring of 2021, and the pandemic was just starting to wind down a bit. We still had social distancing and whatnot, but the vaccine was coming out so the end felt like it was on the horizon. I was waiting to get all my shots before I started job searching in earnest, and I figured I'd get a good job and start being a proper adult.

I was wrong. I could not find a job in my field. I got depressed for a bit, but then decided to work on what I could. I'd wanted to go into writing since I was probably twelve or something. What better time to start as an author than when I was unemployed and volunteering two hours a week?

So in 2022 I started prepping Arx more in earnest. To be totally honest, the first characters that I came up with for the story were Ida, Darius and Odin. They were meant to be more late game material, though, so I needed other characters to work with in the meantime.

And, of course, I didn't want to set it in a real place. Fantasy is my bread and butter, and when I one day thought about a flying city, the setting was set. If I set something in a real place, it just doesn't seem to have the same magical spark that drives me. Even in a work I've had bouncing around in my head since I was about fourteen, which is set in a much more modern setting, it won't be taking place on our real Earth.

Of course it's fiction and won't be set in real Earth, but I don't really like setting things in real places. I'd rather build something from the ground up, strange as that may be.

Anyway, when the idea for Arx as a flying city came to mind, I knew it had to be the place. My next step was trying to make it work. I wanted to lean more into the sci-fi of it all, so I buckled down and talked with a real-life physics expert. I was lucky enough to have one relatively handy, and he was fantastic about helping me make up an Arx that would work. Initially, I thought there would be wind turbines on the outside for power generation, and he informed me that that was a completely stupid idea because of how much harder it would be to fly, so the turbines were scrapped.

Even if it has fantastical elements, I did want to use the sci-fi as much as I could as a sort of fun exercise. Usually my work has much less science and much more magic, so Arx uses different writing muscles. And, let's face it, Ophi's depiction of Arx on the cover is absolutely gorgeous and when I saw her final version, it took my breath away. It just has a different sort of beauty to it.

There were various other story elements that came together to make Arx what it is. One specifically I can't actually talk about just yet because that would spoil stuff, but I'll be happy to discuss it once it's out of spoiler territory!

Initially, I called the Purple One 'The Genie' and they were going to be a singular force generally for evil. Eventually, though, they got friends and they and all their friends became a much more neutral force. Purple has gone through a few name changes, as have their friends. Maybe I'll talk more about them in a future post.

For my starting cast, I decided to build a sort of five-man band structure. I would have Darius/Ida act as a dual smart person, as they were the first characters I came up with for it. I then added Courtney to be the strong one, Joey as the 'hero', Cleo as a sort of lancer, and finally Bruce acting as the heart of the group.

The Bruce thing didn't last very long, unfortunately. I decided to have a middle-aged man act as the heart for funsies and to mess with tradition a bit. That's also why Courtney is built the way she is. Traditional characters are boring! Let's have fun with this.

Stuff has changed a lot from the initial planning. The five-man band type thing fell apart a bit, and isn't nearly as recognizable now, but I'm okay with that. Arx has been a journey, and I enjoyed every step of the way. Okay, most steps. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and confused, but that's just part of the fun!

When I sat down to write this, I didn't quite realize just how big this topic is >.>

I think I'll leave things here for now, and expand on various elements in the future. Characters will get their own specific posts, and I'll talk more about the worldbuilding. For now, though, I'll see you again next month!