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So, you've made it this far, have you? It takes dedication to find this page hidden deep within the Tagonist Knights Website.

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Congratulations! 

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As a reward, I present to you five new ways to immerse yourself within this novel. Some of it is insightful, other aspects of it is meant to make you laugh and smile. Hopefully, by the time you're done, you'll be eager to explore the book if you haven't already, or take a moment to read through it once again knowing what you do now.

“If you measure yourself by the goals and accomplishments of someone else, your life will be defined by them, not by the unique individual that history should remember you as.” – Gold

Say Hello - The Cast of Lexia's Legacy

“One way or the other, I’m going to get my ship back. If that means kicking in the teeth of my great, great, great whatever grandpa, then so be it.”

Lexia

Starship Captain

“If I was capable of an emotional reaction, I would say your definition of fun terrifies me.” 

Parallax

A.I. and Pilot

“I don’t care if a newborn baby is put in charge, you better salute that infant and ask whether they want a new bottle or a change of diapers.” 

Tinker

Cyborg Engineer

"Ah'wa um'foo."

Tedorn

Large Talking Gerbil

“I will not leave you. If something happens, I will be here to protect you.”

Frea

Water/Ice Being

“Are you ever worried that someone on this ship is going to get us both killed in some horrible way?”

Ferno

Fire/Rock Being

“Let death be merciful. For I will not.”

Rua'So'Nid

Lizard Warrior

“Never make assumptions based purely on what is before you. There is always the potential for so much more yet to be discovered.” 

Avatar

Guide/Counciler

“Ferno said you were a mean beast woman, I don’t know where he gets such silly ideas from. I think you’re as sweet as a nylian fruit and twice as tender.” 

Dryad

Humanoid Plant

“Most of those in power are just as bad as the thugs that roam the streets. Half the time they are the thugs that roam the streets.” – Lexia

Relevant Memes/Artwork

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“We aren’t the culmination of what our ancestors did or didn’t do. We are able to make our own decisions, create our own path, defy destiny if need be, and prove ourselves heroes when the time comes.” – Lexia

Origin Story:
Long ago...

Lexia's Legacy began as a dream I had involving a pair, male and female, one fire, one ice. In the dream they were brother and sister. More so mutants, people with powers. There was a lizard creature named Mythos who was a dragon and I believe a robot was there, also.

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Dryad was originally created for a fantasy story where someone from our reality who hated fairy tales, was transported to a fairy tale reality. This plant woman peaks out from behind a talking tree who the man first encounters, trees with human faces that is. Obviously the story didn't go anywhere, but I loved the concept of a plant based humanoid person. So, I kept her as a concept and brought her into this Sci-Fi I was working on.

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The dragon character became a more generic lizard warrior character, rather than a dragon. It wasn't until I was writing the final draft and working on creating Tagonist Knights Publishing that I wanted to use Mythos as one of the knights. So, that forced me to come up with a new name for this lizard warrior. So, the name, Rua'So'Nid came into existence.

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Lastly, I took the concept of mutant siblings and made them two species from the same planet, one fire, one ice, and the not related at all pair became a "forbidden love" idea where they couldn't interact with each other without causing harm. Thus, Frea and Ferno.

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Original Cover Art

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With Series Title Added

Origin Story:
In a galaxy...

Tedorn was inspired by my love for gerbils, I grew up with them and wanted a character that was a large, talking version of them. The idea of this creature being an engineer with savant level capabilities amused me so I kept it. Early on, he spoke a form of butchered English, poorly spoken and mispronounced words. On a whim I decided he would have his own language and began working on a translation list so that I could learn his language. I have always been fascinated with alien languages in other series such as Star Trek and wanted something like that in my Sci-Fi series. 

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I had a crew, but I didn't have a captain. I knew I wanted a female captain that was a little like Han Solo who was a bit of a rogue. Her origin story developed and essentially I jumped into the story with a concept of, what happened long after the Empire in Star Wars was defeated? What if this is set in a future long after a great evil was defeated and she's getting special treatment as the descendant of this great hero? 

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I didn't have any clue who was inside the container. I had no clue where the story was going. I wrote the first third of the story leading up to Lexia taking a vacation on the Vostok years before completing the novel. I picked it up again since I needed a Sci-Fi story for my Tagonist Knights Publishing release. It wasn't until long after starting the book did I finally complete it.

Origin Story:
Far Away...

The story originally began with the scene between Brent explaining to Lexia the origins of her ancestor's fame. It wasn't until I was listening to this song by Fallout Boy, that I had this vision of this awesome opening scene to a movie based off the book. Then I thought to myself, why didn't I include that in the story? Start off on a high energy, face paced, action scene? Great idea! So, that's how it was added to the opening of the novel.

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For most of the book, I had no clue what the Blight was or how it was able to do what it accomplished. I was making things up as I go until I received the answers I needed. Some refer to this as "pantser" style writing which I find offensive. "Seat of your pants" is so derogatory compared to terminology used for those who create outlines and follow rigid structures. I think of it more so as a Gardner versus an Architect. Both are mutually positive ways to reach your goal, neither sound insulting in my mind. So, that's how I write, I'm a Gardner.

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Without giving away the ending, the resolution to what the Blight was struck me like lightning without warning. I had always been fascinated with the topic and found it so much fun to explore it using the various viewpoints and levels of understanding of those gathered around to discuss the subject. 

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The series has given me an opportunity to let loose my inner fanboy and make as many references to Sci-Fi, science fiction, and space exploration. Any opportunity I can, I take it and have fun with it.

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“First cycle as captain and I’ve destroyed the ship and killed the crew, superb job I’m doing.”  - Tinker

Easter Eggs and Inspiration

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Telling Time

A "rotation" is one year, inspired by the phrase "rotation of the galactic axis" from the movie: Galaxy Quest.

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The Cosmic Union was greatly inspired by the Star Trek Universe, The Next Generation being my favorite.

Boldly Go Where...

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Historical Figure

Admiral Patton is named after General S. Patton.

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Favorite Android

Brent is named after Brent Spiner, who played Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

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Use the Force...

Lexia's father, Liam, is named after Liam Neeson, who played a role in Star Wars: Episode 1.

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Origins in a Car

The Starship Sunfire is named after my second car, a Pontiac Sunfire.

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Lizard Warrior

Rua'So'Nid is the word Dinosaur spelled backwards and broken up into syllables to look more alien.

Ice Blocks

FREEZE!

Frea is inspired by the word "freeze" and her people, the Iozen: Ice + Frozen.

Fire

Getting Hot in Here?

Ferno is inspired by the word "Inferno" and his people, the Hegma: Heat + Magma.

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A Good Day to Die

The Narktar, warrior race of lizards, is greatly inspired by Star Trek's Klingons.

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Did you catch this?

Tedorn gets his name from rearranging the letters in the word "Rodent".

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How about this?

Tedorn's species, the Nimrev, is the word "Vermin" spelled backwards.

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Help me...

Page 18, Tedorn says, "Boss, you're my only hope..." refering to Leia's distress call to Obi-Wan in Star Wars.

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Before Sunfire

Page 20, the Starship Sundance refers to my first car, a Plymoth Sundance.

Suburb Houses

Former Residence

Page 31, Section 601 refers to an address where I used to live and owned a house.

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Creepy Crawly

The small machines that invade the Sunfire in Chapter 2 are inspired by the "spiders" from the movie: The Minority Report.

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Breakfast

The species "Trichex" is named after two cereals: Chex and Trix.

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Not So Safe Space

Page 45, landing inside a giant worm in an astroid refers to Han Solo doing so in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

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Exploration

Page 73, "...see what no one has before" refers to the catch phrase from the opening of Star Trek.

Private Property

Former Home

Page 73, 653-46135-765, are local phone area codes and zip code of where I grew up.

Black and White Kitten

Here Kitty Kitty

The feline species, Grimalkin, is an old English word meaning "old female cat".

Green Eyed Cat

A Place to Call Home

The home world of the Grimalkin (and Nimrev) is named Pintac. That is Catnip spelled backwards.

Grey Kitten

Lords and Ladies

Lord Meevarock is named and modeled after my cat Maverick.

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Mysterious Hermit

Page 104, the elder man on the desert planet refers to Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars.

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Star Battle

Nolyc is the word "Cylon" from Battlestar Galactica series spelled backwards and is visually inspired by these robots.

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Space Station

Page 111, the D-S-9 district refers to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine TV series.

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Well Done

Page 14, "Impressive. Most impressive" is a line spoken by Darth Vader in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

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Aye, aye, Captain!

Captain Stewart is named after Patrick Stewart who played Captain Jean Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

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Cursed City

Page 138, Gomorrah was a "wicked" city destroyed by God in Hebrew mythology.

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Self Sacrifice

Page 153, "The needs of the many..." is a quote from the Star Trek movie: Wrath of Khan.

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Can't Stop

Page 171, "Resistence is futile" is something said by the Borg from the STar Trek Universe.

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Robotic Suit

Chapter 11, Slim is greatly inspired by the video game character: Earthworm Jim.

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Home Town

Page 178, Grestle is a condensed version of my home town: Greencastle.

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What a trio!

Gene Douglas Lucas is named after: Gene Rodenberry, creator of Star Trek. Ray Douglas Bradbury, a sci-fi author. George Lucas, creator of Star Wars.

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What is in a Name?

Glen is named after the creator of Battlestar Galactica, Glen Larson, since he was once Nolyc.

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That's No Moon

Page 214/215, the general's ship is a reference to the Death Star from Star Wars.

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Golden Idea

Gold is inspired by Guinan from Star Trek: TNG who was played by Whoopie Goldberg.

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Painful Experience

Glen losing his arms and legs, being burnt, then trapped in a suit of armor is a homage to the fate of Darth Vader.

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Revenge!

Homage to Star Wars: Glen gets revenge on his tormenter: Diarmid. Ian McDiarmid played Emperor Palpatine who is killed by Darth Vader.

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Worm Riders

The Sikarra are giant worm riders. That is Arrakis, the desert planet featured in the DUNE series, spelled backwards.

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Non-Interference

Page 227, the #1 rule mentioned refers to the Prime Directive of Starfleet from Star Trek.

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Godlike Power

Page 260, encountering a being of unlimited power refers to the pilot episode of Star Trek: TNG and the encounter with Q.

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Terrible Episode

Page 266, removing navigational chips was inspired by a 1st season episode of Star Trek: TNG.

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Where on a Map?

Page 268, lontagitude chips is longitude and latitude combined. 

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Just a Pinch.

Brent's use of the Falcon Nerve Grip refers to the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, used by Spock the original Star Trek series.

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Shocking moment!

Brent being shot was inspired by the scene from Galaxy Quest where Quellek says, "I've been shot" and suddenly collapses.

Fiery Sun

Nova Burst

Page 269, Sol-Ra are references to the sun. Ra being an Egyptian Sun god.