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Greetings and salutations. It is I, Graham.

I did love that Clevenger had developed his own race for our game world, eventually to become our book. I’m proud of him for that. All of the other races were pulled from other sources, although typically they were modified a bit. So which do I pick to be my favorite?

I had to think, was there one race in particular that stood out, maybe in their looks, perhaps in their in-world background, or maybe because of a favored character from the book? Nothing particularly stood out. Sure, I have some races that I favor, for various reasons. But nothing I could call a favorite. Then it occurred to me that I was only looking at the races of Sainan, the world from our book.

There was one other source, one other race, and I realized they were exactly what I needed to talk about: the Investurants and the Sangbula of Mumvuri, the Shadow Realm. As we have mentioned far too often, this started as a tabletop roleplaying game I was going to run for Clevenger and another friend. Because of this, the enemies began as miniatures I painted, and their story developed from their looks. After all, you never can tell where your inspiration is going to begin.

I originally had three levels, or types, of enemies. The regular, baseline fighters were Human-like, but with deep, blue skin. They were led by a wraith-like mage of a figure, with a wispy, insubstantial cloak. Trailing in their wake were a cadre of smoky wraiths, minor beings to fill in the gaps in proposed fights. The leader I saw as a ruling class, a Cleric-like nobility bloodline that gave them abilities outside the purview of the regular soldiers.

I recalled the Drow (Dark Elves) of Dungeons and Dragons, and how their nobility has extra magic that comes from their bloodlines, so the idea is not new. Clevenger came up with the name Sangbula, the ruling class of noble blood. To them we gave the ability to become insubstantial, melding their physical form into true shadow, as well as shadow stepping, the ability to open a gateway between the shadow realm and the mortal plane, two realms of existence that overlay one another and mirror each other.

These became the villains of our story, the Investurants, led by their Sangbula. Their dark blue skin and ability to strike from extra-dimentional portals became an enemy worthy of fearing and writing about. The little wraiths that followed them around were pulled from their forces, and given their own place in the world, and in the plot. It gave the Investurants a reason to fight, and ended up giving them their humanity.

So that’s it. That’s my favored race. Honestly, we should have seen this coming, that I would root for the bad guys. After all, I was the one who collected the Decepticons, Cobra, and the forces of the Galactic Empire. I think I will always be drawn to the slick, cool villains. So there you have it. Until next time…

Don’t forget to love one another.

Graham