Author's Notes for "Parasite"
By Glarryg
I’d like to start by thanking you for reading my first major fan fiction story, “Parasite.” It was hopefully worth your time. Following is a little insight as to the making of this tale, as well as some remarks on the original characters.
As I’ve said before, the seven-chapter prologue to this piece was initially going to be a story in and of itself. I hoped to think up a larger plot later. But before I finished the shorter “Parasite,” I realized that there were some issues in that story that could potentially be expanded upon, namely: 1.) Ozzie was revealed to have survived his second plummet, and 2.) Helminthes was endowed with starfish-like regenerative capabilities (as shown by the growth of a new creature from its severed limb); therefore, decapitating it would not necessarily kill it. Of course, from there I combined both ideas and came up with the larger epic “Parasite.”
Now, as for the characters:
Meridio (from meridiem, or noon; the “M” in “A.M.” and “P.M.”)-- not intended to be a “replacement Magus” character, but rather an “anti-Crono.” I noticed that the CT heroes (and all of the original fan fiction characters I’ve read so far) share a common characteristic: even when they hid behind false identities (Magus/Janus, Marle/Nadia), every one of them had genuine personalities. Meridio was an experiment in adding an absolute phony to the team. His pleasant exterior was maintained in the face of people whom he thought could benefit him. Likewise, Crono and the gang are quickly identified as people from whom he could profit, especially considering their Magic-wielding abilities.
As it turns out, once Meridio discovered that Frog was actually Glenn, his underlying bitterness towards authority and chivalrous types showed through. I enjoyed letting things like that play out the way they did; I had hoped that Meridio would be able to charm Marle off her feet eventually, but that never happened. I also toyed with the idea of having Meridio try to steal the Masamune, but dropped that as well. Ironically, as it turned out, in some ways the group would have been better off in their whole adventure if he hadn’t gone with them.
The Mystic Guard-- Ozzie’s Elite came about from a natural need for protection on the Mystic leader’s part, but they eventually gained purpose in pushing certain elements of the story:
Cossack (a Russian horseman) became a vehicle for exposing Meridio to Crono’s magical capabilities. His noble lineage (a “hussar” is a Hungarian horseman) was an attempt to add some depth to the Mystic race. As an added bonus, I gave him the annoying habit of starting every quotation with a question. Oddly enough, having his horse Farcy (named for an equine skin ailment) participate in the fighting was a last-minute idea.
Bodhran (rhymes with “Cow Ron;” it’s a hand-held Celtic drum) allowed Lucca and Marle to confirm that there was something unsettling about Meridio (namely, his family). He was also an attempt to add some depth to the Mystic race, through his idolization of Flea. A couple of the things he says in the midst of battle will be used as material for further writing.
Tzuris (a series of misfortunes; also spelled “tsuris”) was the final push in getting Meridio truly ticked off. I wanted to expound on his fighting style (“Eitervæpon” is a made-up word meaning “ether-weapon”), but he was killed too quickly. He also adds a little insight, through what he says, as to some story plans I have for the future. If any of the Mystic Guard was to survive to come back in a future story, I would have picked Tzuris.
Other characters that had small/nonexistent parts but still had names with some meaning include: Junco (a type of bird), Panlo (completely made-up name based on the words “palm” and “pan”), Conger (a type of eel, or a poorly thought-out marriage game show contestant), Leonard Raddeman (if you’ve ever been to my personal-type web site, you can probably guess where this one came from) and Greer (a very obscure variation of my real first name). The town of Lachesis was named for one of the three Fates; I also wanted to have a city called Clotho, who is another Fate (and who was the third Fate, you may wonder? Why, Atropos, of course!). New Karotus came from the Sanskrit verb karoti, which derives from karman (“deed”), which is the source of the word “karma” (obscure enough for you?).
The name of the Shigenki Technique, as those of you with a remedial or better knowledge of Japanese are aware, is a very clumsy way of making up a word that means “death spirit.” I suppose the word “Shitenki” may be a little more accurate, but I liked the sound of the former, and was more interested in the sound than in making a word with real meaning. It is, after all, my story, and any made-up word can mean whatever I say it does. For the record, there are traces of Shigenki in the original game; if you watch Ayla posing before she performs her Triple Kick Technique, her image kind of blurs. That’s how I envisioned the maneuver to look (which, of course, gives Shigenki quite a lengthy history, doesn’t it? Hmmm…). Thus, if Ayla had joined the group, things may have gone a little more smoothly for everybody, since she could have easily defeated Helminthes. On the other hand, I imagine she probably would have seen through Meridio’s exterior much more quickly than anybody else, and that would have ruined some of our mercenary’s fun, wouldn’t it?
The Epilogue was written to clear up Magus’ fate. Rather than being a tired “search for Schala” epic, I was aiming more for a “search for Magus” story. It probably could have stood alone (like the Prologue), but I included it under this title since the entire “Parasite” ordeal was designed to tie up loose ends in the CT storyline. (If you haven’t guessed it yet, I’m making no attempt to tie any of this story or my personal conception of the CT universe into the storyline of CC, and never will.) Magus needed a distinct place to belong, since he was the only one out of the seven heroes who had been displaced in time (and the only displaced character to be so affected by his experience). For the record, here are the “loose ends” from the game I attempted to explain through “Parasite:”
Again, I want to say thanks for reading my yarn. It was largely an exercise in forging a coherent (and somewhat lengthy) story. In retrospect, it may have done me good to ask for criticism along the way, but I kind of wanted to learn from my own mistakes this time around. Icy Brian gets credit for suggesting I expand my individual chapters; what was initially a fourteen-chapter Part Two was compacted to eight. “Parasite” has provided the setting for a new CT fan fiction “universe.” In the future I plan to write more using the setting I have fleshed out, and about things proposed in this tale (as well as tie up some more loose ends that showed up through the course of “Parasite”). I hope you come back to read what I have in store for our heroes.
--Glarryg
.