This chapter is essentially all about Nazar – my favourite villain. Writing about him was a completely new experience for me. Yes, I have Spoiler, who, in a way, is a villain, but he isn’t fundamentally evil, he is more calculated, skilled and cold. Nazar, however, is bad through and through. He was simply evil. I can no longer recall what inspired me during his creation, other than I needed someone truly frightening – and Nazar is exactly that person. He commits his cruel and vicious acts in an addictive fashion, void of mercy, gaining pleasure from his victims’ pain. I am sure parts of him are rooted in the people I knew as a child.
What I can remember about this chapter is how every scene was crystal clear in my mind. I could see everything, from the stairwell and the dirty hallway to Weasel and the coffee cup – every detail, even the way he had sat patiently waiting to trap his victims online. In fact, a lot more was enacted within my mind than what I dared to write. I had a kind of love-hate relationship with him. I loved him because he was my own scary creation but hated him for all the things he did. Sounds crazy, I know, but once he was born, he became his own true self, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. Fortunately, he only lives on paper and inside my mind.
To get him on paper though, I had to first find a way to introduce him into the game and story. This was done through the character Legion, an avatar owned and driven by several players. The story explains how this is possible, and again, I had lots of fun imagining all the varying groups driving corporate avatars competing against each other for the championship – a healthy violent relationship (if such a thing can exist, then probably best only online where no one really gets hurt). If I was not so tired of constant failure – as up until now my hard work of creation has remained unnoticed – the idea of Legion offers lots of opportunities for spin-offs. Perhaps one day someone will do this; it would be nice. Personally, I am just glad I managed to get to the end of Creation.
Another exciting theme in this chapter is the introduction of the Company, which is another evil theme, but one filled with real memories. Having watched most of the great gangster movies, from James Cagney through to The Godfather (I’m not going to list them all here), and also having some Italian friends who pride themselves on being connected (whether real or imagined), I had a great opportunity to wallow in the past and allow these particular memories to inspire me for the Company’s creation. Later, in another book, one of my Italian friends checked the few Italian phrases I used to make sure they were correct. I have always strived to keep the story genuine. Anyway, in this chapter, I wanted to show the Mafia of the future. I think this is the reason why I chose the name the Company instead of one of the many known titles today. It kind of distances me from the old-style gangster cliches and presents them more as an investing company rather than underground warring families with an insatiable desire for respect. The Company is run like a business. It is almost legal.
The final character is Weasel, the owner of the illegal docking station for the game. It was fun searching out the information about hidden stairwells, which, I have been told, do actually exist. It’s probably cheaper to wall them in than tear them out. I always enjoy the research of every chapter.
