Slayers God's Gambit : By Pairaka

Or, Where the Author Rambles On...

First, you may be asking yourself, Why the hell are you doing this?

Well, because I've wanted to for a while. When I first started writing Slayers fanfic, it was just a couple of stories that picked up things after the end of TRY. Then I started writing them as sort of a challenge to myself because at the time there weren't very many Lina/Gourry lemons out there. I think I knew of one or two. So I set out to change that. And that's why there are so many L/G lemons on the Story Arc page.

That and I have a dirty, voyeuristic mind. Sue me. ;)

Well...As the stories progressed, they began falling into a certain shape in my head. A general overall theme developed and I started coming up with ideas for another large story somewhere down the line. As it is, that story has since changed into what will most likely become a series of stories in order to tell the complete...story...that has been growing in my so-called excuse for higher cognitive thinking.

So in order to keep them straight, I decided to create a larger arc title to cover them all. It initially started out as Stupid Story Arc Title "God's Gambit." It was just a temporary title and I didn't plan on doing anything with it, hoping to find something more appropriate as time passed.

And I did. I found out that "God's Gambit" is in fact a very good title for what was taking shape.

So it stuck.

And now there's this collective fic page.

I figured that other people would like to know some of the things that were going on in my head, scary as that might sound, so here you are. You know most of the characters from the series, but in case you need to check on one, there will be a section where you can do that. I've included maps of the Outside World where some of the story takes place (a good deal of it, actually), and other references that I think might be of interest.

To answer a few questions before they get asked, because I know they will:

Naga does NOT appear in my stories. I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is. I don't have anything against her, but I've only seen one movie and I just don't know enough about her to be comfortable writing her character. So please don't write and ask if I'm going to include her.

Yes, I know Gourry isn't supposed to be an elf, but I'm making him one anyway. Artistic license.

Some things of note:

These are general notes; for specific things regarding each story, please refer to the notes for that story.

On the religion of the Slayers Universe: I know the people in the Slayers world do not worship Ceiphied directly, but rather worship the four Dragon Gods that were created by Ceiphied when he defeated Shabranigdu. However, that is…a bit awkward to explain and there was a Temple to Ceiphied in Seyruun (Kanzel/Mazenda story arc in NEXT, the episode where Mazenda seals away Lina's powers), so just to make things simple, I decided to have Ceiphied be the main "god" in my version of Slayers. Not exactly kosher, but it simplifies some things.

The character of Coyote was inspired in parts by Christopher Moore's character in the book Coyote Blue, the traveling hunchback of the Anazasi, Kokopelli, who traveled around trading songs, and my own demented imagination.

I use no Japanese in any of my Slayers fics because I think it sorta detracts from the story and interrupts the flow when writing in English. After all, it's my belief that they're not speaking Japanese at all--or English for that matter, but we hear everything through the Universal Translator.

However, having said that, I did break that rule in how Amelia, Philionel and Xellos address the others. I've kept the "-san/-dono" ending when these people address others mainly because I think it's more formal sounding than translating it as "Mr," or "Miss." That's just me. Your milage may vary. ;)

There are a lot of references to pop culture in all my fics, usually to stuff that I'm reading/watching at the time I'm writing. Those include Terry Pratchett, the CGI series ReBoot, one of the best British SF series of all time, The Prisoner, Alice in Wonderland, the movie Labrynth, Roger Zelazney's Amber series, Tolkien and other obscure references.

There are people to thank, in no particular order:

Stacy, the Lemonwitch: For being there; kicking me when I got stuck; listening to me whine and groan; long phone conversations; and long dissertations into why the Slayers characters are just so great. And why Gourry is so hot. And for not laughing at me too hard when I outted about Gaav. Hugs, you!

Kamui: For being a good friend and sending me lots of of warm, helpful thoughts and prayers.

Zanne: For being as big a Gaav fan as I am and for not letting me tie myself into knots in the plotholes in Dragondance. And actually encouraging me to write a story featuring Gaav. And for all her nifty illustrations and suggestions.

Amethyst Angel: For being such a kick-ass artist and sending me lots of nifty artwork. :)

Astra: For being a guinea pig and reading Desperado and not knowing what she was getting into just so that I could tell whether or not the ideas were working. Fortunately, she didn't hit me when I sent her a section that ended in a very…awkward place, shall we say?

Others: Alyson, Stara, the Gaav ML, the TRAD ML and anyone else who may have sent me mail over the years saying they liked my stories. :)

Silvestris, of course. Without her I would never had gotten further into the world of Slayers than the first tape of the first season. It's thanks to her that I finally discovered how great a series it was. For that, I'll be eternally grateful. Also, if she hadn't been there when I was first dreaming up this fic, it would never have gotten written. And she's been supportive from the first words that I set down on paper--even if it did mean encouraging and suffering through my Lina/Gourry obession. ;) Thanks, Silvy! KRAM!!