Today, I’ll share another look behind the scenes of my writing project. This time, focusing on the Eternals.

Back in January, I made a post about gods and demigods, and now I’ll share something from creating my own fictional universe that touches on that topic. Aside from some backstory, I’ll also use the structure from said January post.

What is their role?

In the early concept stages, I had several different ideas about the presence and role of supernatural beings in my story. The final version, the Eternals, was finalized during the “trial chapter” stage. As I mentioned in the January post, I wanted to avoid making them too powerful, as that can make them a miracle tool easy to exploit. So, instead, I’ve taken a way where their power is quite low, and thus they’re focused on providing guidance to the champions of the world. They can give their blessings, which are potent from a mortal’s point of view, but way below a typical god.

As such, they’re quite the silent watchers, so to speak. Their powers are nowhere near enough to directly influence what is going on around the world, and so to fulfill their duty to protect the world, they need mortal champions willing to take their counsel in return for their blessings. Which is where the titular faction of my series-in-progress, the Eternal Defenders, comes in (but that’s a story for another time).

What sets them apart?

This doesn’t have a simple answer. The Eternals are eight, of which two are elementals, and six are spirits of long-deceased elven champions. What makes them eternal is that they’re directly connected to the world’s magical forces, and thus they can only cease to exist if that power is destroyed or drained.

The two elemental Eternals have power over nature – one of the elements and weather, one over life itself – and their task is to help guide the world towards prosperity.

The six elven spirits are embodiments of particular traits or virtues who can give blessings or advice related to their area of expertise. In this, the inspiration was a mix of various old myths. As for their appearance, they’re incorporeal images of their once-mortal selves.

What is their presence in the world?

As they’re sustained by the world’s magical energies, they can only manifest in a small selection of shrines – places where the world’s energy is the strongest. The main one is in the heart of the Sacred forest, which is the focal point of magical energy for the whole world, though several other nexus points exist. They can, however, reach mortals with their voice and give them subtle hints – though they use this power sparsely, mostly to communicate with their chosen champions.

There, they can be approached for counsel or beseech their blessing, though the Sacred Forest is currently only accessible to the Eternal Defenders, their chosen champions, since the beginning of demonic invasion.

Thus, their presence is limited. This made it quite easy for me to avoid potentially abusing Deus Ex Machina solutions to sticky situations.

What is their origin?

This is something I decided to keep vague in the story, and I’m not going to enter a spoiler territory by revealing this information in a blog post. For now, I can say there are minor hints in the series, and one main character shares their theory in the second or third book – but no definite answer is given. I have the idea for a prequel that would describe the mortal life of one Eternal, and if I choose to reveal their origin, the epilogue of that story is the likely place to do so.

What is their alignment and goal?

As mentioned before, their goal is to act as guardians of their world, but given their limited powers, they need mortal champions to do the “heavy lifting”. They’re on the “good” end of the scale, though individuals might vary between Neutral, Lawful, and Chaotic good alignments.

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So, that’s another small peek into the background of my story. Unfortunately, life isn’t always as kind to us as we’d like to, and while I hoped to have the trilogy finished by summer 2025, I’m still working on the second book. But I will try to provide some more snippets like this more often.