Current Workload (5/27/2020)

The XCOM Files:

- ADVENT: Organizations - The Eugenics Division

Artwork Pipeline

XCOM Series:

- Patricia Trask

- Yang Shuren

Short Bio

Well, I suppose I should put something here. I generally don't like talking about myself as there is very little of interest to say. I like reading, video games, sports and writing. I've had ideas in my head for different stories for a while now and one day decided to just sit down and start writing. A few years later, and here I am doing a lot more than I ever thought I would.

Having now written several novel-length stories that have been positively received, I do think that I can say I now have some experience writing. That being said, I am no means an expert or professional and thus I welcome all criticism since I do want to continue to become a better writer. So if you have issues with what I write, please let me know in a constructive manner if you could.

That being said, if you dislike my work and actually want me to improve as a writer please do not leave incredibly short, or vague reviews such as "This sucks." or "You are a terrible writer." these do not help me at all aside from letting me know that you didn't like it. My story sucks? you say, Well why does it suck then? If you can't tell me why you dislike something do not expect me to fix it.

On the flip side, if there is something specific that you enjoy about my writing, please let me know as well so I can keep doing it.

Also, I do hold a full-time job so if there are major delays in between chapters it doesn't mean I've abandoned writing, it's probably due to an increased workload or scheduling for my job. Alternatively, I am juggling multiple projects at once, and that is naturally going to delay posting of some of them.

I think that covers everything important about me. Enjoy.

Contact Information

Important Note: Some time ago the site disabled email messages that let you know if someone has sent you a PM, so if I don't immediately get back to your message, it's because I wasn't notified of it. I've been doing my best to come on regularly so that any messages sent get at least a semi-quick response.

Email: Xabiarauthor@ gmail. com

Discord ID: Xabiar#1022

Policies

Request Policy I don't do requests. I always have stories ongoing and due to their usually long nature, I don't stop until they are finished and typically have plans for the future decided well in advance. I have no interest in doing one-shots or pure short stories either so that ultimately boils down to me not taking outside suggestions, regardless of their content. If you wish me to write something specific you want, the most you can do is leave a suggestion. If I like it, it may show up or it may not. Readers do not dictate my schedule or my writing and since this has happened a few times, I feel adding this is needed. It's flattering, but if you want to persist anyway, prepare for disappointment.

Guest Reviews: I've received enough of these to warrant some kind of acknowledgement in my profile, should any guest reviewer read this. Know that I do read and appreciate all guest reviews. Unfortunately, I am unable to respond to them outside of authors notes inside the story. I've also seen several suggestions on how to remedy this, and I don't think any of them are very good. One way is through authors notes, which I won't do since that is not the purpose of the author's notes (At least for me), not to mention I often go into detail in my responses, which makes them a longer read. People don't read chapters for review responses, they want to read the chapter. The other solution I've seen is responding to reviews directly through the reviews pages, which is a bad idea for several reasons, not the least of which being that it's against the guidelines. Aside from that, I view it as unethical as it would effectively artificially be increasing the review count, making the story appear more popular than it really is. If anything should be taken away from this, the only way to get a direct response from me is to create an account and message me. It's not that hard, really. Alternatively, you can always use my email, which is posted above, PM me, or join the Discord Server.

Content/Rating Policy I will not warn for specific content in my stories that may be considered disturbing or offensive as spoiling my stories is not something that I want to do. At most I may put a standard disclaimer at the beginning warning that there might be disturbing material in it. Another reason for this is that it is impossible to accurately tell what is going to be offensive to people and to what degree. I expect people to read the rating and decide for themselves if they want to read or not. My stories are not meant to be entirely happy or lighthearted, I will not shy away from using mature themes or material simply because some people have arbitrarily declared it offensive or disturbing (Which some of it is). That being said, I will not go into excruciating detail if something does come up. I will also not write descriptive sexual content, or really any at all. Most, if not all of my stories will start with a M rating, but some may start out as a T rating and may or may not be bumped up. This is simply due to the content I typically write which is largely for mature audiences. I expect the reader to do their best to notice this so as not to be surprised.

Stories I Beta or Edit

Enigma by Trackhawk [XCOM]

The False War by DerelictTyrant [Mass Effect]

OSABC II: That Which Cannot Die by LogicalPremise [Mass Effect]

Shadow of the Phoenix by SLotH4 [Star Wars]

Templar by Wolfgem90 [XCOM]

Discord Server

I have an official Discord server I set up and shared with SLotH4, who writes the Shadow of the Phoenix, with a good number of other authors and readers there as well. That is the best place to be for updates, postings, and other things that can't really distribute (like artwork), as well as a place where suggestions and feedback can be more immediately responded to.

Link: htt ps:/ /discord. gg/CzC84hf (You will need to remove spaces when you copy the link thanks to the site not liking links of any kind)

Discontinued Stories/Series

This initial Star Wars series is currently discontinued and is unlikely to be revived. All future Star Wars work is likely to be solely tied to Shadow of the Phoenix. However, I will keep up the old stories for posterity for those who are curious, as they were the first pieces of fiction I ever published on this site.

Eradication Day - Star Wars: The Old Republic

The Rogue Agent - Star Wars: The Old Republic

Main Project - XCOM Series

The main focus of my writing for the immediate and foreseeable future is on my XCOM Series, which is a trilogy with a supplementary component, and a number of spin-offs written by authors I work with. This is a drastic AU of Firaxis' XCOM series, particularly XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM: Enemy Within, and XCOM 2. Inspiration has also been taken from older XCOM games here and there. It is a more grounded take on XCOM, focusing not just on killing aliens, but the political, ideological, and international impacts of an organization like XCOM - as well as the truth of Earth facing an alien invasion.

XCOM is far more ruthless and far-reaching than in the games, led by the Commander of XCOM who takes his responsibility to do whatever is necessary to protect Earth to whatever ends it needs to reach. XCOM is not simply a secret paramilitary unit, but a heavily political one, not afraid to use it's resources, leverage, and advanced technology to achieve its goals of a protected Earth.

Over the course of the story, severe changes to canon XCOM continue, such as ADVENT emerging not as an enemy, but the the front line of defense against the alien invasion. The story focuses not just on their own plans to defeat the aliens, but also the cultural, political, and societal impact of a world government that emerges, with a goal not just to defeat an enemy, but fundamentally take control of Humanity and correct the mistakes of previous nations.

The Ethereal Collective, initially shrouded in mystery, is unveiled more and more as the series progresses. Ruled by the few and powerful Ethereals, it is composed of numerous alien species who have their own governments, cultures, goals, and dreams - even as they all are directed by the guiding vision of the Ethereals. But even in an alien society there are shatterpoints and clashes, and not even the Ethereals are certain of the correct path forward.

I am currently on XCOM: The Advent Directive, the third and final installation of this trilogy. It is past the halfway point, but nowhere near complete yet. I am planning for Act IV to be complete in 2020. There are also two translations going on of the main trilogy, one in Spanish and one in Russian. Hades Contingency is almost complete for both, and Atlas Protocol will be next.

Main Trilogy:

Book I - XCOM: The Hades Contingency [Complete]

- XCOM: The Hades Contingency Traduccion Español Oficial by Sancer [Spanish Translation - In-progress]

- XCOM: Чрезвычайный протокол АИД by Zarimiro [Russian Translation] Link: https://fic book. net/readfic/7299852

Book II - XCOM: The Atlas Protocol [Complete]

- XCOM: Протокол "Атлас" by Zarimiro [Russian Translation - In-progress] Link: https://fic book. net/readfic/8843455

Book III - XCOM: The Advent Directive [In-progress - Act IV]

XCOM Series - Spin-offs and Supplementary Material

In addition to the main trilogy, since the release of XCOM: The Advent Directive, I have put effort into writing and releasing additional supplementary material to go along with it. This was started with the XCOM Files, a more in-depth look at the various factions and individuals in the story, inspired by the codex entries you find in games like Witcher and Mass Effect, but primarily from LogicalPremise's Cerberus Files. As time has gone on and the story developed, other readers and writers have expressed an interest in contributing to the universe I've developed.

Edumesh is the writer for the Chronicles of Salvation, exploring the philosophy and mindset of a group that appears later in the story. Ashardalon is the writer for the XCOM Files - Technical Addenda which explores various pieces of technology from a more technical and scientific perspective. OfficialWeedTesterGuy is the writer of XCOM: New Blood which follows a young woman recruited to XCOM for her skill in a particular psionic field. Areleh is the writer of XCOM: Pantheon Rising, which follows the origin, establishment, and exploits of the Pantheon, an elite ADVENT psionic team. All of these are reviewed by the Editing Team and myself, and are excellent contributions to the overall setting and lore.

All works are currently in-progress.

Current Spin-offs and Supplementary Pieces:

The XCOM Files

The XCOM Files - Technical Addenda by Ashardalon125

The Chronicles of Salvation by Edumesh

XCOM: New Blood by OfficialWeedTesterGuy

XCOM: Pantheon Rising by Areleh

XCOM Series - Artwork

Over the past couple of months, I've started commissioning artwork of various characters by different artists (all are credited under their work). Additionally, one of my contributors HailtotheKing has been freely making seals and emblems for the various ADVENT, XCOM, and Collective organizations, factions, divisions, and military forces. His work is particularly excellent and deserves to be highlighted. More recently a reader, Zephyrus-Genesis has begun drawing some scenes from the series.

This site is not exactly the best when it comes to allowing images, and unfortunately I can't share them here. However, I have put together a few galleries of the artwork that exists through imgur. Note that you will likely have to manually put in the links to get to them. Apologizes for the inconvenience. Fanfiction dot net, please update your site to the modern age!

Artists: Isbjorg, Entar0178, Zerphyrus-Genesis, and VincentiusMatthew - All of them have Deviantart Profiles.

Cover Art: https://img ur. com/a/7WzAd07

Seals and Emblems: https://img ur. com/a/FEetyZ4

ADVENT Legions: https://img ur. com/a/X43XiuO

Character Artwork: https://img ur. com/a/S35C6Pi

Scenes: https://img ur. com/a/Oi8tgp9

XCOM Series - Editing Team

No good author is alone responsible for their work, or if they are, it likely wouldn't be as good if they had others helping them. I'm no exception here, and what started out as a fun little project for me has grown exponentially, largely thanks to my amazing team (Who has similarly grown as the story progressed) who've offered consistent feedback and directly shaped the direction the story has taken. It's past time they get recognized in some way, even if belatedly. Profiles will be linked as always, and they're always open to communication as I am. The following is in the order of joining.

Ashardalon125 ("Ash"): One of my earliest reviewers and the first addition to my team in time for Atlas Protocol. Great to talk to, definitely smarter than me, and offers some of the best constructive critique and suggestions for the story itself. He's the main reason I can make the story fairly grounded, or at least, not offensively idiotic scientifically. He's the main architect behind how elerium and Gateways worked, and was instrumental is hashing out the details of how psionics would work. He has also written some stories, primarily on Resident Evil. If that's of interest, check him out as well.

BloodsplatBOOM ("Blood"): Was sort of working with him during Atlas Protocol when he volunteered to undertake the task of editing older Hades Contingency chapters, and he fully came on board when Advent Directive started, and worked on primarily the XCOM Files before I finally consolidated everyone into one team. Of everyone, he is the one who could actually be called an "Editor" since he's the one who finds all the technical and grammar mistakes we all overlook and fixes them. The story would not be as gramatically readable if he wasn't on the team. And he's also responsible for some of the more humorous names in the story, such as the WHEEE and another one that will be revealed eventually.

Thuzan117 ("Thuzan"): Another one of my reviewers who got my attention with their detail and who had ended up giving me ideas even before joining. Thuzan joined a short ways into Advent Directive, and has served primarily as the historical, political, and military specialist. If you noticed my battles getting more detail, or certain scenes seemed more realistic, he was likely the reason for it. He's also largely responsible for a good portion of ideas that ADVENT and XCOM will eventually develop ranging from the small suggestions to multi-month strategies. Very much the Human optimist, and always the one to remind me that Humans are a lot more capable than are often given credit for. His own suggestions have definitely pushed the story in more interesting directions since his arrival. He sometimes uses paragraphs now as well!

Edumesh ("Ed"): The first person I recruited from outside FF, who primarily was on the Spacebattles Forums and an active participant in both the Atlas Protocal and Advent Directive threads. He gave great enough commentary and questions that I figured he would be an excellent contributor to the team. And boy has that ever been reaffirmed as he's been instrumental in developing a very major feature of the story coming up. Aside from that, he's been the main foil to Thuzan and always trying to make the aliens smarter, stronger, and better than us pitiful humans. Most alien improvements and additions that you see will have originally come from him.

Sancer: A reader who's been undertaking the task of translating the series to Spanish over the past few months. In charge of doing the posting and Spanish translation work for the entire series, and helping with any Spanish dialogue and information on South America. About I time I put him in a better place to credit him for what he's done so far.

Zarimiro: A reader who recently reached out and asked if I'd be open to having him undertake the task of translating my series to Russian. In charge of doing the posting and Russian translation work for the entire series, and helping with any Russian dialogue which comes up in the story proper, as well as knowledge of Russia and that area itself. Already proving to be very efficient in his work.

I'm sure that the team will grow, and I look forward to adding more to this list in the future!

XCOM Series - Contributors

Last year I started consolidating everyone who was interested in contributing in some way to the story in one place, and now I work with a core of very creative, smart, and excellent people to work with. As opposed to the Editing Team, who primarily work on the main series, Contributors work to flesh out what already exists and work on their own related projects which I and the Editing Team give feedback when applicable. Each of them brings something unique, be it interests or mindset. Contributors are listed in no particular order with a short bio of what they do (Profiles will be linked when applicable):

OfficialWeedTesterGuy ("Cran"): A longtime reader who initially expressed interest writing an XCOM File on alien integration, and is now the writer of XCOM: New Blood. He's also written some other things, which you can check on his profile.

Areleh: A reader and writer who reached out, expressing an interest in writing a story around the Pantheon, one of ADVENT's more unique military units. Since then he's been working on XCOM: Pantheon Rising, and has also helped the refinement of certain story elements in future chapters.

Arisentactica ("Onyx"): A pretty prolific writer in his own right, and handling his own projects, he has an eye for specifications and details, particularly when it comes to starships. He's been instrumental in designing the future ADVENT fleet, and from how it looks now, it will very formidable indeed.

HailtotheKing ("King"): A designer in his free time, he initially posted some art which was an emblem for the Order of Terra, a military division of ADVENT. I reached out and asked if he'd be interested in doing some for the other parts of ADVENT. He was on board, and since that point has made not only emblems and seals for ADVENT, XCOM and the Collective, but also cover art for the series as well. His work has given the whole series that extra 'touch'. Nothing quite like stamping an XCOM file with a seal made specifically for the story.

Vivat Musa ("Vivat"): A newer reader who has been invaluable on helping figure out the societal impact of something like ADVENT, especially when it comes to education and civil rights. She has a very unique perspective from many others on the Contributor and Editing teams, and her feedback helps me refine what I already have or explain it better. She's primarily worked on reviewing certain XCOM files, and will be doing that primary as part of the team.

Mooloor: He is another longtime reader and writer who wanted to try his own hand at writing an XCOM File, though his focus is more on fleshing out the alien side of the inevitable space conflict. He's already helped contribute to fleshing out the Sectoid fleet, and has a published XCOM File describing it. He's also helped hone out the ADVENT fleet when he can, and you can probably thank him for making the Collective fleet a lot more dangerous when all is said and done.

I expect there to be more in the future, and look forward to their own contributions to this series!

XCOM Series - Miscellaneous

TvTropes: My XCOM Series has a TvTropes page now and comprehensively covers both Hades Contingency and Atlas Protocol, with Advent Directive and beyond being occasionally updated by several gracious members of my community. Highly recommend reading it. Very well done and entertaining. You will unfortunately have to remove the spaces from the link, since the site does not allow link postings.

Link: http ://tv tropes. org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Fanfic/XCOMTheHadesContingency

Side Project - Shadow of the Phoenix

Some time ago I expressed an interest in working with SlotH4, a writer who is one of the main editors for LogicalPremise's OSABC series, on his Star Wars story, Shadow of the Phoenix. Since then it has somewhat morphed into arguably my second-largest thing I'm doing now, though a bit different. SotP is ultimately Sloth's universe and setting, and I just work on expanding and giving feedback when applicable. He has final creative control over everything, but we see eye to eye on quite a lot when it comes to the story.

Shadow of the Phoenix, in short, is a significant AU of Star Wars. By significant, I mean that the published Prequel Trilogy is gone, and replaced with the story from BelatedMedia's "What if Star Wars Episodes I/II/III Were Good" (Highly recommend watching it). There are other major changes such as following Legends canon mixed with elements from the new movies. Elements from the Old Republic also play an important role, and we've made an effort to try and turn Star Wars into a somewhat cohesive whole.

The changes to the background and history set the stage for a story which takes place four centuries after A New Hope, in a galaxy which is much darker than the movies and stories portray. The Jedi have become a political and military force in the galaxy, pragmatic and ruthless to any who threaten galactic stability - or their own hard-fought influence. The Galactic Alliance has fallen into corruption, and the lone President of virtue is overrun on all sides by a hawkish and powerful military and intelligence service who undermine and exploit her at each opportunity. The Fellan Imperium is a police state managed by a single-minded Imperial Command who see a path of conquest, and to return the Empire to the primary galactic power.

Factions large and small have their own plans and agendas, and will stop at nothing to achieve them. There exist lone holdouts, but the galaxy is harsh, and those who live within it must do what they can to survive, or be crushed by the powers seen and unseen. The story itself begins at the point where the agendas and plans begin to collide, and follows characters from a fleeing yet arrogant Sith, to a young but haunted Jedi, to a noble but constrained Mandalore, and many others, as they deal with the chaos about to befall the galaxy.

I highly recommend it. Updates are not fast, but they are definitely worth it.

Shadow of the Phoenix by SLotH4

Shadow of the Phoenix - Addenda

As for what I primarily do as far as writing goes for SotP, what I've largely been doing is writing Addenda for the SotP universe. These are in some ways similar to XCOM Files, but for SotP. Though I would probably compare it more to the Cerberus Files, because the Addenda I write are extremely in-depth, focusing on a specific organization or faction, and writing about everything from the history to the important figures, to the structure of the organization itself.

This is written like an intelligence report, typically from the Galactic Alliance or Empire, and was started for the purpose of expanding the background elements of SotP and making the setting feel more expansive and lived-in for lack of a better word. I write these as they come to me, and they cover both familiar factions and how they've changed over the long timespan, and new ones who were created for SotP specifically. The list of Addenda is the following, and each one focuses on a specific aspect.

All of them should be considered works in progress.

Addenda - The Jedi Order, Guardians of Peace and Justice

Covers the Jedi Order and Daniel Skywalker

Addenda - Sith Collective, of Shadow and Darkness

Covers the Sith Collective, and includes a Short Story (In-Progress)

Addenda - Force-user Sects, the Unorthodox in Practice

Covers the Voss Mystics

Addenda - Fellan Imperium, the Legacy of an Empire

Covers the Imperial Knights, and Historical Documents

Addenda - Mandalorian Union, Glory and Honor

Covers Tlon Fett and his Militia

Addenda - Minor Powers, Pariahs, and the Politically Independent

Covers the Migrant Fleet of Dac (In-progress)

Addenda - Galactic Underworld, Beneath the Façade

Covers the Zann Consortium

Shadow of the Phoenix - Prelude to Twilight

The final main thing I've been writing for SotP is Prelude to Twilight, which is a short story which takes place just before Shadow of the Phoenix itself, and follows Daniel Skywalker on a quest for answers throughout the galaxy. It has a major focus on visions, expanding the galaxy, and introducing certain things which will come into play far down the line in the main story. It's been very fun to write, and I consider it among the best work I've done. I intend to finish it within 2020.

Shadow of the Phoenix Tales - Prelude to Twilight

Side Project - TITANOMACH

Edumesh is entirely to blame for this project, which is effectively a significantly AU take on the Destiny setting. Destiny is an interesting subject for a variety of reasons. There are many, many things I like about it, and many, many things I don't. It had a lot of potential that Bungie sadly can't or won't tap into. Some of it is due to the limitations of what they are working within, but others are definitely on them. The TITANOMACH series is intended to both give my own take on Destiny, and to fix some of the most glaring issues with the whole series.

I'm approaching this a bit differently than my XCOM series, which has gotten somewhat infamous for it's size. With TITANOMACH I'm making a deliberate effort to have fewer main characters, fewer scenes, which should theoretically lead to a more focused and shorter story overall. Something I can feasibly do between my other work. So far it seems to be working out pretty well. The goal for this series is to finish Act I and potentially Act II in 2020, and Act III the next.

Right now only TITANOMACH I - Triumvirate is being written, which starts the story of Destiny at the beginning, right as the Traveler arrives. But it is not a normal Humanity that awaits them, but a Humanity which is dominated by four superpowers - the Confederation of American States, the Republic of Indian Territories, the Chinese Communist Empire, and the Soviet Union, who are allied as the Triumvirate, and are determined to bring the few holdout nations under their heel, and use the Traveler to expand their reach beyond Earth.

I've really enjoyed writing it so far.

TITANOMACH I - Triumvirate

TITANOMACH - Editing Team

Much like my Editing Team for XCOM, the TITANOMACH Editing Team has been invaluable in making this project the best that it can be. It's smaller than the XCOM one, obviously, but they are very involved and have helped heavily shape the direction and tone of the story, as well as figured out how certain problematic elements of Destiny are handled (CoughVexCough).

Edumesh ("Ed"): The reason this project exists at all. Edumesh was the one to introduce me to Destiny through the lore, and effectively sell me on the setting itself. A lot of the foundational parts of this AU are because of his input and refinement. He's a bit of a Bungie apologist sometimes, but in a good way, and has a few times corrected me on some assumptions I've made on decisions Bungie seemed to make, which were unnecessarily negative. He's a good check on me, and is very helpful in weaving all the parts of the lore together into something new and different. I would expect him at some point to be writing something in this universe as well.

Sevoris: Our physics and science guy for Destiny, and easily one of the smartest people I know. He's been very, very involved in giving feedback on chapters and isn't shy on making suggestions or pointing out things which should be added or removed. He's exceptionally helpful in grounding Destiny as much as you can, and of course giving him a reason to go all out in designing a Humanity with the power of Light at their disposal. He's an excellent writer in his own right, and this is a story where you will almost certainly see his fingerprints on if you're familiar with his work.

Aberron: Another very skilled and experienced writer, he's also helped in shaping certain elements of the setting, as well as giving inspiration for some characters and their writing. In the story department is where he's most involved, for plot points and ideas which will come into play a bit down the line, as well as providing some good perspectives on what something like the Traveler appearing would have on Human culture, society, and religion.

Side Project - Of Sheep and Battle Chicken: Broker Report on the Citadel - Internal Structure and Organization

Easily the smallest of my projects, but also one I take great care doing, is making my own contribution to LogicalPremise's excellent OSABC series. Last year he asked me if I would be interested in writing an Addenda-style supplementary piece for the Citadel Council, and I agreed of course. Since then I've started writing, and it's been looked over by LP's Editing Gang, and published under his profile. By the time I finish with it, I expect it to be the longest Addenda or supplementary piece I've written.

Working on it is intermittent, but what I have now is probably some of the best writing I've done, and this is not something I want to rush. This is especially unique for me because I have to actively try and keep within "canon" - of which there is a lot of in OSABC. Nonetheless, my goal is to complete the Addenda within 2020, and that is a goal I feel I can reach.

As for what is or will be covered in it? Everything from the history of the Council, to the Subcommittees, Embassies, Military, C-Sec, the SPECTREs and more. I'm very proud to work with LP on this, and hope that it is a worthy entry into OSABC lore.

Broker Report on the Citadel : Internal Structure and Organization