Author Guest Post: The Awakened: An Origin Story

How did The Awakened come to be? We have Hall Greenberg, the creator, here today sharing his development of the world.

The Awakened: An Origin Story

Hal Greenberg

For years, I had this idea of a young man who was bonded to a lion and his friend who had control over plants, and I would think of scenarios for them, and the world slowly built around these two characters. From that point the world just expanded and when I realized I had something I started building a land, I first hired a cartographer to draw the map of Grimaton. I decided that there was no equator it went from south is cold to north is hot to cover all types of environments. Then I broke the land up and made different sovereigns, that was when I added other authors to start to fill up this world with stories of who was Awakened and those around them, I determined that you could have a bond with one creature not of your choosing but that creature became sentient and another character in the story and could mindspeak with you (stole that from The Horseclan series). If you were Awakened and not bonded with an animal you would have control over one specific sphere of magic, it could be elemental or psionic, it did not matter if it was a specific type of magic and if you used it too much you would have drained your mental constitution and may need to rest or may even go into a coma.

The world was created, the rules were set and as the world grew from the two anthologies I was struck early on, what if this event happened on earth, right now, how would the people, the government and those who were Awakened act? Heroes, villains, selfish, charitable what would happen? How would you react if your friend became Awakened but you did not? These thoughts passed through my mind and Awakened: Modern was born.

eSpec Books liked the idea and we worked on the project together and it is currently on Kickstarter, great stories by gifted authors will let you see what happens when a second moon suddenly stops near Earth and certain people become Awakened.

http://tiny.cc/AwakenedModern

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Hal Greenberg is an ENNIE winning art director, author, game designer, lead on anthologies, and world builder. Some of his works include the world of The Awakened®, Sisterhood of the Blade®, Bluffside: City on the Edge, Approaching Dawn: Witching Hour. Hal has worked with such industry veterans as Monte Cook, Todd Lockwood, Jeff Easley, Jim Butler and many more. He has been a guest at GenCon, Necronomicon, and Salty Bay Con.

Hal is a divorced father of two, with one dog, who resides in Florida. His hobbies include collecting: books, games, movie and TV props, art (sci-fi/fantasy and animation), watches, knives, and swords. He has also recently taken up the art of Bonsai with his daughter. Hal enjoys playing RPG's (online and in person), board and card games, and binge watching Netflix® in his spare time. You can find him on Facebook at realhalgreenberg.

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