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[beforedawn-universe]

FAQ

▲ “Why did you start Before Dawn? What was your inspiration behind it?”

If you’ve read What is Before Dawn? you’ve probably noticed that I mentioned I started it in class. The reason behind that is that I have a lot of trouble focusing in class, and if I don’t keep my mind focused on one thing, then I start getting lost in my thought and I can’t focus at all and class is boring. For over four years, I’ve been writing in class to stay focused, and I’m now pretty used to it and able to write and take notes at the same time.

I started Before Dawn because I didn’t know what to write.

At first, I had no idea what my plot was. None. In a month, I managed to find what I wanted to do with it: it was supposed to be pretty short, a lot shorter and simplier than what I have now. My characters were less elaborated, I was supposed to write two arcs (The Calm Before The Storm and Hellbound, which is now renamed Thanatopsis), but my great friend managed to convince me to continue to give a happier ending to my characters, and here I am now.

My inspiration is just my D&D universe.

▲ “What was the birth of Before Dawn?”

(What is the difference between this question and the former you may ask? idk tbh)

It didn’t really start blooming in my mind when I made my first character - Austrenn. At first, it was just for fun. Then I created Schadenfreude, and soon after, Mahyeri. And I had some ideas for a plot. So I took this path and now I still don’t really know what I’m doing.

▲ “How were your characters born?”

(Chronological order, main three)

Austrenn: I needed a D&D character. I took a high elf because I thought everybody was gonna take tiefling but really we were all elves. I took Warlock because I love the idea and strongly identify with it. I smashed my keyboard to get a name.

Schadenfreude: He was the bartender of my first campaign and my players annoyed me so much I used him as a tool to tell them kindly to calm down IC. He became my self-insert. I now like him.

Mahyeri: BOY THAT’S FUN. He’s strongly inspired by another fictional character that I was crushing on at that time. My great friend said as a joke to ship Schadenfreude and this character. And so Mahyeri was born.

▲ “Who is your favorite character?”

To write: Mahyeri.

To draw: Austrenn.

To hate: Schadenfreude.

(This works with the “fuck, marry, kill” game, in this exact order)

▲ “What do you use to write and draw?”

Paper and pen, libreoffice. Intuos, Paint Tool Sai mainly, Gimp or Photoshop for effects.

▲ “Can I be kin with your characters?”

NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. You are not allowed to and if you are anyway you are invalid and I despise you.

▲ “I headcanon X as Y! Is that fine?”

Look I headcanon my characters all the time it’s fine as long as you don’t harass people for your headcanon.

▲ “Why do you act like Schadenfreude?”

Because I’m kin with him. Joke. He’s literally my self-insert. And each time I make him different from me I start acting like him.

▲ “Is that fine if I want to fuck your characters?”

Yes. Including Sagittarius even though it is kinda weird since they are a bit of a anthro goat.

▲ “Is Sagittarius a furry?”

They are a Ranger. It’s already an answer.

▲ “You sound scary.”

According to my players, I’m “scary but attractive”.

▲ “Why “Before Dawn”? Why triangles? Why crows?”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[beforedawn-universe]

The Author

▲ Greetings and salutations~ ▲

Full username is Crimson Roses, also known as the Crow Prophet, Crimson, Crow or Damian. I’m a young man, student in psychology and philosophy in France. I speak both English and French fluently, though I may do some mistakes in either of these languages (please correct me if I do).

If you want more information about myself, I invite you to check my personal blog, I’m keeping everything here rather professional and related to Before Dawn.

Writing: I’ve been writing for over a decade and a half now, since my youngest age (I started with crappy Warrior Cats fanfics lmfao), and it’s my main hobby. I’ve never been able to finish one story, I’ve never published any. Before Dawn is currently my longest story, and could be considered done as of June 2018 since I’ve finished writing what was supposed to be the end.

Drawing: The very common “I’ve been drawing since I was able to hold a pen” but more seriously I started to draw seriously around 2012, around 2014 I was given a (cracked) Paint Tool Sai which is still my favorite software. In mid-2015 I started using a tablet (a basic Bamboo, that has since then upgraded into an Intuos). I’m 100% self-taught and loathed art classes because I hate to force myself to draw.

Dungeons&Dragons: I’m a huge d&d nerd, I’ve been playing since early summer 2017. I’m mostly a DM, I have more experience as a DM, and apparently I’m pretty great.

[beforedawn-universe]

What is Before Dawn?

The universe of Before Dawn is based on the medieval fantasy (though it would be closer to Renaissance) universe of Dungeons&Dragons, with a lot of “handmade” additions (called “homebrew”).

Geographically, it is based around one large country, the Haven, with a few islands and archipelagos around.

▲ “What is Before Dawn?”

Before Dawn is a novel I’ve been writing since September 5th of 2017, in my spare time (read: classes). It is a novel of four main arcs, two of which are already written: The Calm Before The Storm and Thanatopsis.

It is mostly based on my Dungeons&Dragons universe and the adventures of my characters throughout the campaigns, as well as cameos of my players’ characters when they are involved in this plot.

The story follows the development of the narrator, Schadenfreude, since the moment he met Austrenn, who is (arguably) the deuteragonist.

If I need to do a short summary, I would say that the country, named the Haven, was pretty peaceful until Schadenfreude decided to bring back some kind of forgotten entity of destruction for pretty obscure reasons, even though his friends don’t agree at all on this. Mayhem follows.

▲ “Who are the main characters?”

My main cast is composed of six/seven characters: Schadenfreude, Austrenn, Mahyeri, Darius, Eseme, Sagittarius, though it is rare to have the six of them at the same time. They are still my main cast. Donovhan can be counted as part of the main cast, though he isn’t really.

Schadenfreude, Austrenn and Mahyeri are the main three that we follow the most.

• Schadenfreude: “tiefling” Warlock with a thing for necromancy, rather charismatic man who struggles with the discovery of how feeling works and what guilt actually is. (Narrator)

• Austrenn: high elf Warlock who has the kindest soul, loving, caring, trusting, believing there’s good in everyone though he will have to learn that it isn’t necessarily the case.

• Mahyeri: elf Rogue, pretty aloof, dense, asocial, has a lot of trouble letting his guard down and trusting people, who tends to bottle up everything and be emotionless even though it doesn’t work well.

Darius, Eseme and Sagittarius are also pretty important in the story, though they play a less important role, and tends to be less around Schadenfreude (read, less around the narrator, so we don’t learn as much about them.)

• Darius: human Sorcerer, friendly and outgoing, pretty smart and wise, he likes to consume knowledge and pretend he is the leader of the team though he can panic easily.

• Eseme: human Paladin who is the definition of pure anger having a lot of anger issues, she can be pretty rude and loud though she would never harm bystanders.

• Sagittarius: tiefling Ranger, at first some kind of shy kid but really they’re a hysterical hyena, dramatic and cryptic, who loves to pull pranks on innocent people and scare them.

Donovhan can be considered part of the main cast because, even though he isn’t part of this group, he is one of the only character that we see from the first arc to the last and who is really important.

▲ “What are the main themes of Before Dawn?”

The development from a charismatic man who is kinda an asshole to the embodiment of hatred to a kinda asshole but not bad person.

A lot of self-hate, trust issues, anxiety, but some aftercare with genuine love.

Underlying themes (some are never said explicitely) involve suicide, anorexia, issues dealing with sexuality, abuse.