As I'm sure you know, I've been a huge fan of the
Twilight Histories podcast for a long time now.
There really is nothing else like it, and I'm constantly amazing at the
brave new worlds Jordan and the gang dream up.
I had, from time to time, fantasized about getting to write an episode
or two of my own. I fantasized, but I
never considered it a serious possibility.
Then one day I saw a pig fly by, and then it began to rain malted milk
balls. And by all of I that, I mean, of
course, that Jordan opened it the podcast to guest authors.
This was the chance I'd been waiting for. And yet, I wasn't sure if could measure up to
the standards of The Twilight Histories.
So, I tried to pitch a couple short stories I'd been shopping
around. However, a little encouragement
from Jordan, I instead set out to write my very own Twilight Histories
episode. It would be set in a dieselpunk
Aztec Empire. I'd always had this image
in my mind of an Aztec city, with dieselpunk style technology, at war against
an equally dieselpunk Japan armed with robot samurai. I'd also had little bits and pieces of ideas
set in this Aztec inspired world.
My task now was to string these mental movie clips
into a cohesive narrative. I removed any
elements that were explicitly fantastical or supernatural, which wasn't too
hard. Hey, I still got to keep the
robots and mechanical marvels. Anyway, I
got the first draft finished and...well, in hindsight, it was pretty
terrible. I laugh at it now, but when I
read the feedback Jordan gave, I was half-afraid he was going to seriously
reconsider our deal. Still, I pressed on
and went to work on the second draft. I
effectively had to start from scratch, but I think we can all agree that the
end result was worth it.
There were some delays in the production, but I never
complained, and I was never ungrateful for all that Jordan was doing for
me. Then it finally happened. Part 1 of "True Aztec" premiered
and I finally got to here something I'd written given life in audio. As a big fan of podcasts and audiobooks, it
has been my goal to hear my fiction read and produced in audio form. Preferably on my favorite fiction
podcasts. There was a bit of a wait, but
then Part 2 arrived, and it wasn't long before Part 3 and Part 4 arrived.
I managed tosell a story to The Centropic Oracle while Part 1 was in production. As my story, called "Spelling
Test", moved into production, Centropic Oracle would ask if I had any
other publications I ought to list. This
meant I'd occasionally have to ask Jordan how production was going, and I
always felt really bad about doing so.
He was already doing so much, I didn't want to sound ungrateful or
unappreciative.
"True Aztec" has, by all accounts, been
warmly received by the listeners. It
always received lots of likes on the Twilight Histories' Facebook page, and
lots of retweets and likes on Twitter. I
heard from listeners who couldn't wait for the next installments, and I had an
especially lovely conversation from an adoring fan over on DeviantArt. More than just that, my fellow Twilight
Histories writers Josh Hutchins and Kevin Valbonesi gave "True Aztec"
high marks, with Kevin even mentioning that he could wait for Part 4 after
hearing Part 3. That, perhaps more than
anything, was a sign that I'd done a great job crafting the episode. Of course, Jordan did help tidy it up a bit,
and make it a bit more polished.
Of course, the episode wouldn't exist without the
excellent team of voice actors behind it.
"True Aztec" is the first Twilight Histories episode to
feature a different narrator in each episode, and the first to feature female
narrators. "True Aztec" set
all sorts of milestones for The Twilight Histories. The narrators are, in order of appearance:
Jason Wallace, Charlie Albers, Grainne Noel, and Daniel Cryer. I also got snazzy episode art. I don't know if it was Kevin or Jordan who made it, but either way, I love it.
Originally, I wrote the story in third-person due to a
miscommunication with Jordan. He asked
me to write like Josh Hutchin's episode "Dead Emperor" which is in
first-person, but the email said third-person.
I figured he meant first-person, but wasn't sure if it was the other way
round in Commonwealth English. So, I
named the protagonist Apollo Rhodes, with his Aztec name being Toltecatl. There wasn't any real reason why I picked
Apollo; I thought of the poet Apollonius of Rhodes, and thus we get a
name. As for Totecatl...well, seemed as
good a name as any. The episode was
edited into a standard second-person narration, which is what I always wanted
from the start, so I'm very pleased with it.
That said, you will occasionally see certain little hints and slips of
the original script poke through in the finished episodes.
Now that we've got the technical stuff out the way,
let's talk a bit more about how I came up with the story for "True
Aztec." I've always loved the
history of Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, and of the Native Americans in
general. It has always irked me that the
Aztecs tend to get reduced to bloodthirsty stock villains. True, they practiced human sacrifice and
other thing modern society finds objectionable, but they were much more than
that. They were one of the only
societies with mandatory education for both men and women. Those sacrificed got to live like kings in
the year leading up to the sacrifice.
Let's also not forget how those sacrificed were believed to receive the
best possible afterlife. Heck, the
Mesoamericans believed their sacrifices were necessary to keep the universe
running. Not saying there were never
politically or military reasons behind it; but I am saying that it's more
nuanced that most people give them credit for.
The point is, the Aztecs way too often get an
undeserved bad reputation. I wanted to
make a story where the Aztecs got to be the heroes for a change. The Aztec Empire was founded as an alliance
between three tribes. That's why it is
often known as the Triple Alliance. I
basically took that idea of one nation made of many people, and expanded it
into something akin to the melting pot thing we have in America and Canada. Jingjing, Balam, Tupac, and the citizens of
Shin Nihon might not be ethnically Mexica, but they are Aztecs in all the ways
that count. That's what Necalli never
understood. The Aztec Empire, in the
world of "True Aztec", is not an ethnicity, it is an ideal. So yes, all of the characters in "True
Aztec" are Aztec regardless of their ethnicity or heritage.
So why is it that things diverge with the Tang
Dynasty? Well, from what I've
researched, I determined that the An Lushan Rebellion was the point where China
really began to decline in power. I knew
I wanted China to be allies with the Aztecs, and so I needed to keep them
strong and outward looking. It always
wanted have East Asia and the Native Americans be the dominate economic,
technological and cultural powers. As
such, I had to ensure that those pesky Europeans didn't screw-up my plans. Originally, I intended Europe to get hit with
an even worse Black Death, but the final script just has the, being a backwater
because East Asia and the Aztec outclass the, technologically and
economically. I concede that having the
Aztec and Inca being such powerhouses was rather unrealistic, but it was what I
wanted for the story. Plus, dieselpunk
is inherently unrealistic. I even
acknowledge as much within the story.
I've always wondered what it would have been like had
the Aztecs, Maya, and Inca hadn't been conquered by the Europeans. What works of art and philosophy would they
have created? How would their societies
have developed?
So what about Japan?
Like I said, that was always a part of the original idea. I've noticed
that, in a lot of the ideas for stories I have, I tend to use Imperial Japan,
of some equivalent there of, as villains.
I'm not sure why this is. I've
always thought that the general public doesn't know enough about the war crimes
of Imperial Japan. Most of the stuff I
had Minako say about here life in Hokkaido was based on things the Japanese did
to the Ainu during World War II. So, how
did Japan become a major power in-story?
Well, originally they were allies and trading partners with the Chinese
and Aztec. So that's a how they got the
tech that the Chinese and Aztec had.
They had done a bit of empires building, but the Chinese always tried to
keep them in check. However, things
soured after the Caliphate War. The
Japanese felt they got snubbed and screwed over in the post-war negotiations,
and turned against their former allies.
Out of universe, they became a major power because that's what I wanted
for the story.
Also, I'm fully aware that the Aztec Empire was
founded in the 15th Century, not the 10th.
That was the result of a miscommunication. I never specified what year the Chinese made
contact with the Aztecs, or what year the story was set in. Thought I intended it to probably be a bit later than the 14th Century. As such, Jordan had to figure the date based
on the clues I left in the backstory, and I don't hold it against him. Like I said, lack of communication and specification on my part. Admittedly, it was kind of cool to think that the stories was happening in what was the Middle Ages in our world. Well, this is alternate history, we can just
say the Aztecs got founded earlier than in our world due to the butterfly
effect and call it a day.
A lot of the things I put into "True Aztec"
are very much inspired by events from our world. For example, the Pruners were inspired by the
Society of the Righteous and Harmonious Fist, better known as the Boxers of
China's Boxer Rebellion. The Pruners
want to revive human sacrifice and flower wars, but they are a fringe group,
and don't represent the majority of the Aztecs.
I'd also like to emphasize that I've wanted to tell the story that
became "True Aztec" for many years.
Those attempting to find commentary on modern politics will be
shot. Well, the scene where Nacalli
tries to convince the crowd that Tupac poisoned the kids with vaccines was
meant to be a swipe at those idiots who claim that vaccines lead to
autism. That's the only
instance, however. If you find anything
else like that in "True Aztec" you're just seeing what you want to
see.
If there is a moral to "True Aztec" it can
probably be summaries by what Emperor Montezuma says at the end. Be good to you fellow humans, and appreciate
the many strange and wonderful cultures and peoples that make up our world. Obviously, this comes with the caveat that if
a culture encourages oppression and suffering, such as Necalli and his goons,
it's best left to the ash heap of history.
"True Aztec" is a complete story, but I left
little seeds that could possibly be expanded upon. In hindsight, that was perhaps a tad cocky on
my part. I figured it would be a little
something in case I ever got to write for Twilight Histories again; perhaps as
a bonus episode. The episode would
follow Tupac's life in Cusco during the war between the Inca and the
Japanese. Well, as would be revealed,
the Japanese didn't directly invade, they got one their allies to do that. However, they did send troops on the pretense
that they were protecting Japanese citizens within the Inca Empire. Obviously, it would end with Tupac's wife and
daughter getting killed, and him moving to Tenochtitlan. We'd also get to see what Kaisa was like
before she lost her leg. All of this
would be told within a frame story of the unnamed protagonist and his friends
adjusting to life in post-invasion Tenochtitlan several months after the events
of "True Aztec." Obviously,
there would be humorous moments where he explained how things went in our
world, and them reacting with skepticism.
Perhaps someday I will write another Twilight
Histories episode, but not any time too soon.
I don't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, or be ungrateful, or
give Jordan Harbour a brain aneurysm.
Still, I do have a couple ideas kicking around should that day ever
come.
And what become of those more fantastical elements I
had to remove from the story? Oh, I
saved them, and I'm in the process of adapting them into a comic book series
that will be called The Calliope Brigade. Nice already got an artist, and we're
in the very, very early stages of production.
I hope I will so be able to share the first issue with all of you. I'm sure that, somewhere along the line, I'll
be able to work in winks, nods, and references to The Twilight Histories.
Things have really been looking up for The Twilight Histories lately. It's been listed as one of Apple's Must Listen podcasts of 2019, is it one of the top 100 podcasts in Canada, and I got to be part of it. The episodes continue both to live up to my expectations and to keep exceeding them.
Well, I think that should be everything. Go forth and enjoy my Twilight Histories
episode "True Aztec" if you haven't done so already. "True Aztec" Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. It has been a long time
coming, and I'm glad to finally have the chance to share it with all of you
guys at last.
