TCoE: Backstory Blogs Pt. 1

The Sithmora

By Mel E. FurnishPublished 4 years ago • Updated 2 years ago • 9 min read

"Cythia Portrait" by Thilil > https://www.deviantart.com/thilil/art/Cythia-Portrait-352806359 <

While I was laboring away today and found my mind wondering about writing and my books, I was trying to muster up some ideas on ways to help spread the word on my work and I figured one way to be heard, is to be persistent. I need to be writing constantly and consistently, at least something geared toward these books. I needed a way to share bits and pieces of the world I have created in shorter and more "seizing" ways so that I can try to capture intrigue from potential new readers. Here and there within the past year, I have gotten some feedback from a few of my readers and some were asking me questions on certain situations or backstories. Now, I do like a good backstory, however, they can't always be the "main" focus of a plot. If you focus too much on every character's backstory, then the plot will weaken from having too much information all at once. It will become dull and stale, or at least that's my personal opinion.

That being said, I figured that since I can't always go into deep detail and depth of some background information, I would like to start sharing some blogs with little tidbits explaining and or refreshing those details and their purpose in my books. Keep in mind that reading these, if you haven't read my books, there will be spoilers. For those of you reading this who haven't read my books, these blogs will most likely confuse you a little, but hopefully, trigger some interest to get you to look into them. If you have any questions, search "Mel E Furnish" and there will be different options to contact my pages or website so that I can get back to you.

With that out of the way, let me pull you into my world of imagination. Just a heads up, some content might be a little dark and twisted, but honestly, in the time frame my books are based in, it fits. These aren't your typical fairy-tale books with the "Happily Ever After" and "Once upon a time" vibes. I hope that in reading my books, you have cried and you have laughed with the characters. I try to help you feel their joy and their pain. My goal is to immerse my readers into a cruel, and ironically "realistic" world of magic. Characters die while some thrive. Sometimes the innocent can be evil, and sometimes the evil can show innocence. No one is perfect, and no one has a perfect life, just like in our reality.

Some of the evil I speak of is actually what this first blog will be about. A merciless, stone-cold group of top-notch warriors known as the Sithmora, who are a group of women that have been raised under harsh conditions so that they may be broken in order to be "reborn" as ruthless and skilled fighters. Their sole purpose is to serve The King of Domorda. They have several leaders among their ranks, but the one who commands them all under the current king is The Head Sithmora. Often a well-known mistress to the king, she is also the one who completed some of the darkest of tests. Each and every Sithmora must survive long days and nights of torture so they may be "reborn" before they can begin a series of tests. If they endure, they will have to conquer these trails so they can be considered for a higher rank.

In my books, some people believe that it is worse to be born into the twisted system, rather than be abducted. If you are born into it, chances are your veins pump with the blood of the king himself. Generations of kings passed down the tradition of ensuring their most elite assassins carry "strong" and "dark" blood. If Sithmora have sons, they are trained to serve The Queen of Domorda as Sithtorens. However, the most recent queen (the mother of Torrick, one of the main characters in my books) tried to put an end to this tradition. The Sithtoren who served her before "disappeared" into the different lands, seeking different lives. Now when they have sons, they send them off to training camps to become soldiers in the king's army.

The daughters remain with their mothers and sisters to begin their training as soon as possible. At the age of six, they are to help with the torture process of the girls that are abducted. When they turn eight, they face their first test. Sometimes this involves the killing or torment of an animal. In time, the animals switch to human beings. This next level of trials begins with prisoners then follows with the torture and murder of fellow Sithmora who had failed their tests. After they have grown more and if they have passed their tests, they then must complete one last challenge before they can become an "official" Sithmora. This often includes the torment or killing of a family member, whether that be one of her real sisters or her own mother. To earn titles as they progress over years after passing all the initial tests, they must show utmost effort and diligence in a certain task or mission.

These heartless women were created that way by the darker forces above them. From a very young age, they saw things that no child should ever have to see. They endured horrible conditions or they died, which for them wasn't much of an escape either. Often Sithmora would take their dying "sisters" to a chamber that was shrouded with dark magic. This curse allowed only Dark Angels to drag them down to Hell, where they would only be forced to do evil deeds. Only the lucky ones ever truly escaped.

Escaping them is nearly impossible, but it happened from time to time and even in the books. One chance to truly escape is to be banished. This rarely happens, because Sithmora typically torture and kill those who have failed and or disobeyed. We see an example firsthand with Cythia, one of the first characters introduced in the series. Despite being banished as an "Outcast," she is left alive (temporarily) for a reason. Whether that be to be hunted for sport and practice to keep other Sithmora sharp and in shape, or to be used as leverage and bait. Some Outcasts have even been used to leave "breadcrumbs" to help Sithmora track down something: a town to raid, more girls to kidnap and train, or an even more important cause. Whatever the reason for being sentenced to banishment is, it often ends the same. If and when found, Sithmora will continue to use them or simply kill them on the spot. Very few ever escape and "disappear."

I only touched on these a bit in my books, more so in the first one. I believe it might have been this twisted aspect of my books that had led one of my readers to leave the comment, "This book was super vicious," with a five-star rating under the first book on Amazon. That review makes me feel like I have accomplished what I had set out to do. I didn't enjoy writing up this particular group and their crude traditions, but I do enjoy the thought that my readers will feel the different emotions I wanted them to feel toward these characters. My intent was to create a breed of evil enemies serving the one true antagonist that the readers would maybe pity, but also come to hate. After having read this, I hope I have achieved in making you feel these emotions.

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TCoE: BACKSTORY BLOGS

> Pt. 1 - Sithmora <

> Pt. 3 - Kaynen <

> Pt. 4 - Cythia < [ Pt. 4:1 - Cythia ]

> Pt. 5 - Torrick <

> Pt. 6 - Wistria <

> Pt. 8 - Zyro <

> Pt. 9 - Riann <

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