Upload Notes: Kaethe's City Development

This was a huge, epic privilege to write this story! I cant overstate that I was simply thrilled to be working alongside Raps on writing a lil story for his angel series~ Raps is one of my favorite artists, easily one of the bests of the west in the macro art world. I could gush about his art a lot, but I oughta focus on the story...

One thing I really enjoyed, first of all, was working with Raps to understand his world. Such a delightful feeling, getting into the head of another creative, seeing the "backstage" of what they've been producing. It also put some responsibility on me, as a result, to then convey that information to the readers -- to bring life to this world that you otherwise only get to see in glimpses. Raps does a great job with worldbuilding throughout his arts, but a picture really can only say so much and only with so much certainty. In Kaethe's City, I wanted to make sure the world of the Aether felt immersive, like a proper extension to what's seen in the images, and to resolve some of the unexplained mystery of the setting.

I also had to do all that, while also working on a pretty strict length~ Hah, this actually ended up being twice the length that was discussed, but I dont think either of us were against that. Kaethe is a cutie and deserves a lot of attention, even more than I could give her~ I had to really balance out and make efficient use of my words, to build up the world and to also make Kaethe as charming as she looks. Some details were harder to cram in than others, but were too vital to skip, such as the creation cloud for making buildings, or some of the lore behind the demons. It's an interesting puzzle: with only so much length, you want to exposit a lot of info, but you also want to do so interwoven with enticing writing... but with only so much length. A lot of times, I just had to admit "defeat" and be very forward with information, since I don't get the benefit of having dialogue to bounce off of, or future paragraphs to keep a flow of info steady.

Luckily, the world of the Aether is a fun place and so the writing itself came pretty naturally! Giving Kaethe the task of developing a city not only gives perspective on her personality and her day-to-day routine, but deliciously allows me to give some good size angles going. Originally, the cathedral was actually just a church, and was imagined a lot smaller, less grand initially. Raps suggested making it a cathedral, and used the world of Dark Souls as reference for what he imagines the locals to look like. That really helped, not just giving me a ref lol, but making things bigger just simply allowed me more room to give Kaethe to work with. It makes her efforts and her giant position among things stand out a little more -- kind of ironic, that by making a building bigger, I made the giant looming over it seem bigger too, without changing her interactions at all.

Looking back, I do think the demon scenes were maybe a bit clumsy? I had actually wanted to reposition Kaethe here, to put her in a kneeling position next to the cathedral and working on a higher level of the city than where she was seated. Laying down had its own appeals however, so I had to make a fight scene with Kaethe's feet out of that angle. I dont blame the reader at all if it maybe felt awkward how the fighting begins lol, since it seems rather weird to think of these demons going around, doin' demon stuff, and then suddenly be surprised by giant feet kicking around................... but that's the power of writing, babyyyy! I don't have to actually visualize that shit! I just say it happens and it happens! Words!

Another thing I had to consider when writing this story was that I had to match Raps's vibe, which meant depicting a story that is......... let's just say lighter, loftier, softer than the usual Cursey story. Right? I'm usually uh, quite dark... dreary... I dwell so much on negative feelings and emotions, so much uh, anguish and obnoxiousness. I had to adapt my style to be a bit kinder, warmer lol. Did it work? You tell me. I tried writing things with more the sensibility of writing a cartoon, so imagining pain as being a lot less... painful, or being loose with how characters act or respond to circumstances. Seriously... did it work? It'd be good for me to have a style that isn't soooooooo edgy I guess.

man, what an honor. Really appreciate Raps giving me this opportunity~ And welcome in, all the new readers! Lol, Im not sure how many coming in from Raps's fanbase are also going to read these two-month-late upload notes... but I hope you enjoy browsing around and maybe even find another story to read! Thanks for all your support~