The First Shall Be Last Society/The Well of Souls

“The First Shall Be Last” society -
A non-profit dedicated to making mentality-uploading free for the poor, homeless, and under-privileged.
They are a Harbinger of the Singularity
Denounced as a meat-grinder for the poor so the rich can live forever in a world of life-extensions and limited resources
Denounced by the Church – how can christ resurrect them if [...]

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Riel and Lilit

At some point after leaving Duckworks, Riel travels to Peru to confront Lil. He’s had no contact with Eva/Mary since Duckworks, and his plan is not to kill Lil (whom he knows as the Brood Queen. He’s aware of the basic Lillith mythology, and has some Ohidan history from Duckworks, but he knows [...]

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Alone with Revenge – Act 3

How Riel’s success is a failure.

Katherin’s path involves slaying the seven generations above Melody – that will give her the choice to free herself. Really, Katherin is only using Riel for very potent food and to create a power vacuum that she can fill. When Melody’s sires are killed, she does get a choice – [...]

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Eva is the mother

While Adam took on the role of the the Christ, Eva chose not to be his wife (which is why he eschewed a marriage while in the flesh), but his holy mother. She emphasized the role, giving it an unprecedented importance. As her child-husband would later say, “a prophet is not never welcome [...]

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Alone with Revenge – Act 2

Characters:

Jack Riel
Migue and the cleanup crew.
Laura Riel (mother), Ward Riel (father)
Detective Lawrence Takenawa

ToC:

The Cleaning Crew comes to remove Gus’ body and the evidence from their apartment.

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Alone with Revenge – Act 1

For the time being, this post has been rated M for mature (sex, language, and violence, in that order of depravity.) Please proceed with caution.
Characters:

Jack Riel: College-aged. Music Major at Pittsbury State. Plans to pursue a career in film scoring, but currently fronts the cover band, Refinery. Unaware Son of Eve. [...]

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Jonas Ciad – Before the Tumult

Jonas Ciad is in many ways Jack Riel’s counterpart, or some kind of mix between Riel and the Batman. He was orphaned at a young age (nothing sinister – just a boating accident), and a large fortune fell on his shoulders. His father was sole owner, CEO, and President of the fast food chain, “Kung [...]

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Jack Riel – before the Tumult

Riel, before the hunting, before Melody was turned and his life was turned upside down, was a music student at Pittsbury State U. He was a fair musician and a good composer (for a college student), and was in his junior year. His long-term aspirations were to be a successful film scorer. He played guitar [...]

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Riel is a son

Riel’s adoptive parents are deep into politics – his mother was very active in Doctors without Borders, and his father was Mayor of Pittsbury, has been in the private sector leading a non-profit, and is considering a run for senator.
When Riel goes vigilante, it casts his father’s campaigns in a negative light, and they keep [...]

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Melody Before and After

Melody Lilly (this last name is significant), Jack Riel’s girlfriend, is more his rebellion girlfriend than a true love. It is true that he loves her, but he probably believes it is more serious than it is. She is not from a wealthy or influential family (which does not please his parents, though they try [...]

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More Jonas, the only NCMirb field agent: underground Contacts

While Jonas is the only PNI field agent, there is a home agent in each garage to manage the cars, the infrastructure, and the Underground contacts.
The Underground is a loosely-structured assortment of homeless people whose job it is, among whatever other things they feel like doing, to count things. Counting cops, counting cabs, counting men [...]

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Riel’s indiscretions come back to haunt him

While Katherin is Riel’s matron, she owns him, as Keralai owned David during his slavery. She feeds from him and uses him for her own ends.
One of her more dastardly plans was to sire a son by Riel – she hires a prostitute and makes sure she conceives, vamps her, births her child, then slays [...]

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NCMirb

Jonas’ one-man agency (federally mandated, not federally funded) is called NCMI.
“What does that mean?”
“Numinal Contingency Management. It was originally Numinal Crises Management, but we thought “Crises” might draw too much attention to what was supposed to be a line item.”
“Doesn’t Numinal imply ghosts, too? And religion? Sounds like more than your ‘tightly focussed’ [...]

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Riel’s pet Vampire, Jacqui

After Jack breaks with Kathryn and learns that Melody is truly lost, he floats, lost, for a few weeks before falling in with Jonas. After earning Jonas’ trust, he is shown the “business” – Silveray, the basements, the underground, and the apartments. At one of the apartments, they find Jacqueline, an unsuccessful starlet of Silveray, [...]

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Riel is a father

Though Riel never marries, he does have relationships throughout his career. Along the way he fathers several children, though he only knows of two. One is a daughter by the administrator’s daughter at Duckworks. Her daughter has a daughter shortly after Heaven Descends – this is Tal, the heroine of the story.

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Riel and New Babylon

While Riel spends his five years at Duckworks, the political landscape changes. The Middle East declines to near third world status as oil joins coal as an out-of-favor fuel source, and OPEC can no longer control the price of a barrel. Oil drilling exploration is no longer cost efficient. There are some “Oasises” in Dubai, [...]

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The Crescent

During his training at Duckworks, Riel is visited frequently by Eva (as he learns to battle, he begins to remind her of Adam). Riel learns several things about Lil during that period.
Riel learns that the crescent is the sign of Lil (being the symbol of the moon, of course). Riel asks if she has some [...]

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Coera = the heart of Baod, as explained by Liliana

As part of Riel’s plans to use the Keys to unlock the Boundary, he must steal the Keys from Lil.

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Liliana is a cute little Peruvian

Liliana, as Riel comes to learn of Lil in her contemporary incarnation, is a youthful, tightly voluptuous, Peruvian lady barely more than 4 feet tall. She organizes her nation from the cover of the South American jungle and is able to travel throughout most of the world without attracting notice.

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The Keys of Adam

As Riel comes to realize that his real adversary is Lillith, he also comes to understand her intentions. She stole the Keys of Adam, the keys that bind and loose the powers of heaven, the keys that lock the barrier between Coera and the rest of the universe. Though Lil stole the keys, she was [...]

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Mordred

Saul, Riel’s dhampir son, is raised by Katherin to sieze power in the aftermath of Lilith’s ejection from Gohira. Saul takes Riel’s hospitality, ingratiates himself (it easy to take advantage of Riel after Melody is released), then betrays him and takes his name and organization to sieze power for himself and Katherin.
(Saul tells Riel he’s [...]

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Refinery

During his college years (and beyond), Riel fronted the local band, “Refinery”. Refinery was a cover band, but they covered the song by changing the genre and sometimes the tune and/or lyrics. They were known for taking good songs and making them great, or at least good in a whole new way.

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Refinery: Cover Songs

Here are a bunch of songs ripe for the Refinery cover, either for their words or the music:

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The Evolution of Jonas

The very earliest drawing of proto-Jonas was a sketch in the margins of coursenotes.

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The Evolution of Riel

The Evolution of Riel
Today I take you on a visual tour through the history of the Jack Riel character.
I think this is the first Jack Riel picture ever drawn(?) My guess it’s from the summer of ‘93. It’s about right for my drawing style then.

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Riel: Table of Contents

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Riel loves Music

As a SamEveya moves from life to previous life, not every memory is retained, just as you don’t remember everything that happened last year, or even yesterday. You certainly don’t remember everything your high school English teacher told you, even though it was “Very Important”.
Riel remembers the themes of his life, but many of his [...]

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