Several months ago I was asked to explain how I went about bringing the Dark Breed world to life. I had enough readers interested that I thought this would be a good time to re-visit that post and bring it home in case you didn't get a chance to catch it. My world is evolving with each and every book I write, but the spark of it's existence and how it all cam about is here in this post. Hope you enjoy it.
Shannan
World
Building and the Dark Breeds
Take a dose of
old Las Vegas, near the Fremont Experience, add a liberal helping of all the
legends we’ve grown up reading. Then just for giggles threaten to expose their
existence to the world. What do you get?
A whole lot of trouble.
When I built my
Dark Breed world I wanted it to be mirror to that of our own. Since the heroine
of the story, Tambra Ellis, is a Metro beat cop it only stood to reason that
Marcus Valerian, a two-thousand year old vampire, would be a cop for his kind
as well. Giving them a common bond in a uncommon situation. As an Enforcer, Marcus
and his men uphold the laws given to them by a group of twelve Dark Breeds
called The Tribunal. The Enforcers are judge, jury and executioner of any Breed
who steps over the line.
Next I researched all the stories I grew
up with. Legends like the New Jersey Devil, mythology, from Greece, Rome and
Celtic. Then I researched fairy tales from all over the world, personally,
Grimm Fairy Tales are my favorite. From these came the Dark Breeds. The idea of
living a day to day life within the human world and all the while mankind is totally
unaware of them was appealing.
Much like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
You never know if the wolf will show his true colors and bite someone’s head
off. Literally!
I
knew I would set the Dark Breeds headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since I
live here what better place to use than one I’m familiar with. It also helps when
Vegas is a favorite hot spot for millions of people. A friend asked me why
place vampires in a location that averages around 300 days of sunshine per
year? The answer was very simple.
Nightlife.
Vegas never
sleeps. The night brings out the unusual, uninhibited and goes 24/7. A vampire
can live in comfort and feed with relative ease here. As one of my vampire
Enforcers Christophe would say, ‘This city is a variable smorgasbord of tastes.
You can sample to your hearts delight and never sip from the same vein twice.’
When working on
my Dark Breed world I wanted something different for my vampires. No, they
don’t sparkle, but they can and often do go out in sunlight. There are several
drawbacks though which makes them prefer the night. One, they are as weak as a
human with no vampiric speed, accelerated healing ability nor can they tap into
any psychic talent. Second, they battle constant lethargy. The younger a
vampire the more difficult for them to keep awake. Not a good thing when you
have bad guys wanting your head. Again literally, since it is the best way to
kill a vampire. So in a nutshell, when it comes to my world, night is still the
vampire’s best time.
I also introduce
several other Breeds and some are represented within the Enforcer team. The
second most intriguing would be the Lycan. Not your standard werewolf, Lycans
are born and called Pure Bloods. Sadly they are facing extinction. Their Leader
Temple Fox will do whatever it takes to find a Pure Blood mate to secure the
bloodline.
Yeah, he’s one
of the bad guys.
Weres are humans
who once bitten are at the mercy of the moons phases. Control is next to
impossible for Weres and one reason so many loose themselves in blood lust and
turn feral. Unfortunately for the Enforcers not only Weres are losing control
and indiscriminately killing anything in sight. Many other Breeds are crossing
the line and becoming feral.
Exposing them to the world would bring out the
worst and best in humanity. But what would happen if the betrayal came from one
of their own? How would the Dark Breeds come to grips with their laws gone,
their leaders wiped out?
But that’s the next story as the world
building goes on.
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