About From Darkness, Pass
When I set out writing this account of the world of Siliar, I did so for my own enjoyment and for the enjoyment of my friends. When I was a teenager, I read many science fiction and fantasy adventure books, and I participated in role playing games as a source of recreation. Together with my friends, we entered worlds of fantasy in which we faced the challenges planned by the "referee of the night". In the beginning our play followed the rules set forth in a commercially successful game, but as we matured, so did our expectations for our game. After trying several other systems, we began to first modify existing rules and finally we developed systems entirely from scratch.
Over the years, we shared many incidents of deep satisfaction in our play. Eventually we developed several characters that stood out in our collective minds as "good" characters, and the worlds -- complete with maps and histories -- in which they lived. We called each world, corresponding characters, and the adventures they undertook a "campaign" and each campaign represented months of preparation and months of play. As time went on, when we recalled incidents of the past, we would often wonder how a particular character from one campaign would react to a character from a different campaign.
From Darkness, Pass began as a stage on which the best characters from our best campaigns could once again come to life, and indeed interact. In all fairness, I must give credit to those who inspired it. Many of the characters were created solely for this work, but many others owe their origins to those long evenings in years past when my friends and I would gather to "play the game."
Perhaps the most influence was taken from the works of Tolkien. As one cited to be the creator of the genre, his works were clearly inspirational. His genius created the languages of the elves and the dwarves, and I have not tried to change or add to his effort. When either of those languages are encountered, they are, to the best of my ability, true to his designs. Following his example, the world of Siliar derived several languages and a common tongue.
The individual who directly contributed most to this book is my life-long friend, Cameron Walker. Together we designed the maps and history of Siliar, and laid the foundations for the development of many of the characters. Some of the events of the story are taken directly from the adventures we shared during that campaign, and it is that campaign that the plot of the story (From Darkness, Pass) most closely follows.
Cameron also shared in all of the other campaigns from which characters and incidents are taken. Additionally, he compiled the elven and dwarven language that was used in this (and other) works. Cameron, along with Scott Waldon, also contributed to the story by reading the many drafts and making suggestions -- most of which are included in the final version.
Other individuals provided ideas for some of the characters. Most prominent among them are Gary Roark and Brent Robertson. Elements of other characters have been blended to become part of new characters. Additionally, many of the names used for characters in the story came from the games, even if the personalities were created for the book.
The character, RaKon, is inspired by the character, Rafar, in Frank Peretti's book This Present Darkness. When I read that book, I was so impressed by his character -- the sound of the name and the personality -- that I incorporated a character like him into this story as one of the principal antagonists.
The race of people called the Elginary Dorsi is inspired by the Dorsia in Gordon R. Dickson's series by the same name which Cameron read shortly before we started work on Siliar.
As I said before, I set out on this task for myself and for my friends. For any others who read this, I wish that they might experience some of the pleasure that I have in writing it.
Bill Snodgrass
