Centernia: Building a Castle

Nico is a character that has gone through a great deal of growth since 1997.  In the beginning, he was a stereotypical prince, perfect in every way right down to his blonde hair.  But perfect is boring. The Evolution of Nicoveren Aristo Verdian As a teen, I was lucky to come across  How to Write Sci-Fi and Fantasy  by Orson Scott Card . This volume was my foundation for learning how to write.  The book suggested that the weakest characters in a story are actually the nobility.  They don't have the flexibility to go on adventures and they are always under public scrutiny. Centernia has always had Castle Aurumice.  I needed to find a way to keep the castle, but tone down the nobility.  I couldn't quite figure out how until I was a college student living at RIT.  I lived five years in the dorms and loved every minute.  I was intrigued by the social dynamics, the arguments and the wonderfully crazy situations that occur when you lived in close quarters with a wildly diverse

Which Centernia characters do you ship? I don't think the creator is allowed to ship, are they? Otherwise it becomes canon, and what fun is a ship if it becomes insta-canon? I will say I love hearing fan ship-theories.  The castlefolk are not exactly conservative in choosing bedfellows and some of your romance theories may be very true. Is Malachi a sinari? No, Malachi is not sinari. The castlefolk follow him easily because he was one of their leaders years ago.  He is charismatic to some and obnoxious to others.  It seems like there is never a grey area with Malachi, you love him or hate him. How do you find the time to write and keep a full time job? I work a thirty hour workweek formally and spend the rest of my time freelance illustrating and working on Centernia.   There are many days that the dishes may sit in the sink because the castlefolk are more important.  I don't play video games and I rarely watch tv.  Physical activity is of high value to me and I wil

Digging through the old Centernia archives, we uncovered a few gems created almost ten years ago. As I tend to write to music, it seemed appropriate Centernia have its own theme.  My husband Jamil skillfully composed these for me. Two versions exist.  One has a softer more natural sound and the other relies more heavily on synthesizers.  Feel free to post in the comments which you prefer. Centernia Theme: Spirit of the Castle    If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element Centernia Theme: Forever a Guardian    If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element

The bicorn is one of the most iconic creatures in the land of Centernia.  In the southern lands and coasts of Galbrian they are known as the vishalli . In the east, they are called the demon chasers. They are an intelligent and dangerous creature, but when well-trained, a highly prized companion. The species originated in the harsh arctic northern lands on the continent of Madierna. Bicorns have many very unique features, making them desirable mounts.  They are muscular and possess a resilient endurance, high intelligence and a wild fearlessness.  A single bicorn can easily cost four times as much as a well-bred horse. Bicorns are largely omnivorous creatures.  It is believed in times of vegetative scarcity they rooted out grubs and other small dirt-dwelling insects.  Over time, this insect-eating trait grew to encompass larger creatures such as mice and squirrels.  Full-grown adult bicorns have been known to eat prey as large as a rabbit or fish, though mice and grubs are much