ANYWAY
A few things happened to help me shape the main villain in Peacekeeper's Essence (yes Sarlin isn't the only one). One: I discovered the awesomeness of Imagine Dragons. I came across one of their songs Radioactive (which I'm listening to right now) and I felt a bit... inspired to say the least. When I listen to a good song I just have to make a character fit it. If not, I make one up. Thus the birth of Toxic. It's not his official name though.
Isn't he awesome? Other than all the anatomy glitches. I actually got a massive influence of his coloring with this one person's character (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffs4qGnQAZ8).
I combined the concept of the Vat with some Romantic themes. To put it simply, he is a symbol of the corruption of sin and the quest for perfection blah blah blah... In his case, it's immortality. Also, Vat start out as normal creatures of Rantis until they allow darkness to corrupt their hearts. Then their physical forms mutate as well. They also grow gray as they age, a symbol of their own death to come.
I thought I'd mix this concept with scientific testing. Toxic is hundreds of years old and still looks pretty good, sort of. At first all that I had for the secret villain that would show up around the end of the second book was some bird made of shadow. But no- he's one of the few Valloians who gave way to darkness and became a Vat. For the most part the government of Dorimay and Nebey, the two countries mainly occupied by Valloians, have killed these almost bestial creatures. Those that existed in the other lands were locked away long ago by a hero. I'll have to write down that historical, almost myth-like, event at some point. Either way, these creatures are very rare on the surface world of Rantis.
I hope you like him as much as I do! Here's to an awesomely creepy villain!
Sea
