-formerly known as rockforthecross74-

About time I cleaned up my profile, yeah? This is just a little bit of basic trivia about me:

-I'm a born again Christian. This is basically the belief that humankind is inherently sinful, creating a bit of a chasm between them and God and keeping them from going to heaven as sin cannot be permitted there. So Jesus had to die on the cross to pay for our sins, and if we accept Him into our lives then we can not only go to Heaven, but also have a personal relationship with Him and allow Him into our hearts to make us a better person.

Writing-wise...this means that there will be no M-rated, unnecessarily gory, or super-inappropriate stuff in my stories. Which the majority of readers can agree with ethically, so it's no big deal. However, seeing as I'm more of a 'progressive-minded' brand of Christian and I AM writing inside videogame universes where combat is an eventuality; there are still fight scenes, romance arcs, and some very raw displays of angst/emotion.

-My writing style is basically 'Steinbeck, but sci-fi'. I like to show the faults, the ugly side of human nature and then twist it around to make those same imperfections something beautiful and poetic. Something that we can all relate to.

-Addendum: The obvious exception would be my humor stories. I just wrote those because I was bored.

-My stories have been beta read by writtenrhythm (as her stories have been beta read by me) for about three years now. Our writing styles are radically different, as are our chosen fandoms; with the exception of KotOR, of course, which is how we started reviewing/fangirling over each other's Star Wars stuff to begin with. :) But we get along amazingly and I'm blessed to have her as an online friend and sister in Christ.

(Also, if you scroll down to the links, you can go to my dA profile and see all the artworks she's made for me, as well as all the other art pieces we've collaborated on. I'm good at fractal art and she's good at drawing...very good combo, as it turns out.)

-I consider myself to be the following: Whovian, Trekkie, Zombie-prepper, and StarWars and/or Battlestar Galactica superfan. You can practically see the nerdiness coming off of me in waves. :P

-I used to sing in a punk rock band. I still sing like nobody's business and listen to various types of punk, alternative, metal, techno, and dubstep all the time.

-Turtles are awesome.

And now for something a little heavier. Skip it if you'd like, but I want it to be known why I'm drawn to writing what I write, and why I continue to do it.

-I write mainly Star Wars, either set in the KotOR or TOR universe, because this particular fandom is really special to me. A couple years before I set up this profile and the one on deviantART, I was looking for a way out of just about everything. Just constantly losing people I cared about in every way imaginable; others deriding me as being 'evil' for not going along with a narrow-minded, small-town status quo that said ladies had to be demure, quiet, and unambitious. I'll spare the details but: being depressed and angry in general with having a 'dead-end' life, I was just bumming around the house when I came upon an old copy of KotOR that my brother had bought on a whim years ago. I had nothing better to do, so I put the disc in and made "Xana": a witty, light-sided, loyal, sarcastic smuggler who loves exploration and computer slicing.

It turned out to be the best game I ever played. I loved being the hero; someone who could learn anything, do anything, start out with nothing and end up saving the galaxy. Playing as Xana taught me that just because everyone else judges you to be evil, it doesn't mean you have to prove them right. It's all about choice and how you want to come out of a bad situation: corrupted and hateful, or strong and wise. So whenever I felt like those people were bearing down on me again, I would just ignore them, turn on some music, crawl into bed, and dream up adventures for Xana. Eventually...all these adventures were written down into short scenes and became my first story, Who I Am or Who I've Been. Going through the chapters, you'll probably see a little of my history bleed into the storyline. (i.e. the Splicer-Xana story arc, one of Xana's parents dying during childhood, her disdain at the Jedi Council for judging her every action...wait, and you thought I was exaggerating with the whole 'losing people' thing?) But that's all right, because the double-story is what helped me through that time in my life, and I wouldn't want to forget that even for all the amazing storylines in the world. Looking at things through Xana's perspective made me stronger, bolder, and though not quite as impulsive and aggressive as she tends to be...determined enough to kick myself back into action, stand up to all those people, and get my life back on the path God had meant for me.

Playing KotOR opened the gate to some other great game series, including Mass Effect and Halo, through which I was able to make scores of new gamer friends to replace ones that had left. I'm also a wildly enthusiastic writer thanks to the role that story-writing played in helping me get through all that shizz, and I've managed to meet some amazing people on deviantART and who have been there to help me get past it all. Look down at my links, some of them were even nice enough to make fan art for me!

So yes. That's my story. :)

Check out my fractals, photography and fanfic illustrations on DeviantArt:

KotOR fanfiction: http:///gallery/27604837

Mass Effect fanfiction: http:///gallery/31624840

(dA is also where I post my co-authored and 'practice' fanfics, so go there if you want to read some more of my stuff.)

Developing Ideas/Currently In Progress:

1. Who I Am or Who I've Been - (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic) Welcome to a KotOR-verse where Revan is a snarky teen smuggler, a dashing 17 year old lieutenant survives the Endar Spire, and Carth's son joins the quest for the Star Forge. Revan/OC, Carth/Bastila, Mission/Dustil, Canderous/Juhani. AU. Very AU.

Fan Art:

- "Xana Dakari" by writtenrhythm: http:///art/Xana-Dakari-315368582?q=favby&qo=4

- "Xana (colored version)" by pheonix-wings: http:///art/Xana-colored-version-288060196?q=favby&qo=1

- "Xana and Talon" by TheLastRefugee: http:///art/Xana-and-Talon-288201143?q=favby&qo=2

- "Xana and Bakarne" by KalmaStari: http:///art/Xana-and-Bakarne-261157925?q=favby&qo=3

- Xana, Talon, Mission, and Dustil profile sketches, by pheonix-wings: http:///art/Teenage-Characters-288975088?q=favby&qo=0

(Thank you to all these talented artists for your work, it means so much to me! *sheds happy tear* )

2. Duality Effect (Mass Effect) - The galaxy is tottering on the brink of destruction from a race of enigmatic synthetic beings beyond their worst nightmare. The geth are emerging from beyond the Veil, their top Spectre agent has gone rogue, and Ambassador Udina won't...stop...calling. But the Council can handle all that. What they really weren't expecting...was Zierrah Shepard's shotgun-toting, bass-playing, lollipop-eating, biotic renegade of a sister. ParagonShepard/Kaidan, RenegadeShepard/Joker.

Story cover: http:///?loggedin=1#/d49b57v

Screenshots of Aralynn:http:///art/Aralynn-Shepard-Mass-Effect-1-and-2-322803213?q=gallery&qo=0

Screenshots of Zierrah: http:///art/Zierrah-Shepard-Mass-Effect-1-and-2-322795361?q=gallery&qo=1

Fan Art:

"Through the Galaxy" by writtenrhythm: http:///favourites/49464132#/d5dbw8g

"Blue" by writtenrhythm: http:///art/Blue-312838633?q=favby&qo=5

"Ms. Aralynn Shepard" by writtenrhythm: http:///art/Ms-Aralynn-Shepard-310737291?q=favby&qo=6

3. Two Halves of a Whole Survivor - (SWTOR) "Captain Havyn Xylone, at your service. I’m your typical blaster-wielding, sabacc-playing darlin' of a smuggler. Well, except for the fact that I’m an ex-Jedi. And rumored to be one of the last living descendants of Darth Revan. And I'm currently chasing down the kriffing schutta who stole my ship, with an adorable Mantellian in tow and bounty hunters on my tail. The Force sure has one warped sense of humor..." Series of one-shots revolving around the survival-buddy dynamic, friendship, and eventual love between a female Smuggler and her companion.

Havyn's Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/TempestCXylone

Completed Stories:

1.Oh Frag, Not Again!(Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II) Xana finds herself sucked into yet another galaxy-saving adventure when she awakens on Peragus and everyone thinks she's the Jedi Exile. Sarcastic randomness, Atton with ADD, Kreia-bashing – what more could a former Darth Revan want? 4 chapter parody of the Peragus level, with an epilogue as well

2. Set Course for Random! - just a KOTOR 2 oneshot I wrote while in a coffee-induced ADD moment at 2 AM. Still really funny though; includes girly HK-47, caramelldansen stormtroopers, pink-haired Atton getting pazaak decks thrown at him, and lots more random stuff.

3. Ner Vod, My Hero - (Star Wars Republic Commando) All Fixer wants is to be a hero. The Deltas' mission on Geonosis is riding on his shoulders, and now he finally gets his chance. But at what cost? AU Republic Commandos. Fixer/OC pairing.

4. Madhouse - (Mass Effect) Joker and Shepard try to build their first house. Though, between horribly misplaced bathroom fixtures, territorial krogan, and Aralynn's strange idea of domestic bliss…he's just glad the place is still standing.

5. Your Second Chance Awaits - (Star Wars) A teenage Padawan and her little sister manage to make a daring escape into the Coruscanti undercity during the Jedi Purge. Finding themselves with new identities and hiding in a run-down inn, will they find a new family and a new life amongst the staff or only delay the inevitable? Based on a weird dream I had that I immediately translated into a SW fic the moment I woke up. --may turn into a series later, much later--

6. Destiny's Aurora - (Runescape) (Not really completed, I just lost interest in this story so I'm not writing it anymore.) When Aurora, a crafter/aspiring adventurer from Varrock, teams up with Cade, a cultured and mysterious knight of shady origins, to explore the realm of Runescape, what will fate hold for them? Follow the story of a friendship true enough to help them defeat the ghosts of their past (not literally) and propel them both to the common dream they have both held precious for so long.