Strange Pursuit

Strange Pursuit is yet another side story to the series of works inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, as part of A Call to Arms. Taking place many years prior to Land of Confusion (and indeed, Strange Pursuit is the earliest title in the canon, preceding Holidays In The Sun), a younger Anry Muse is in the midst of his own path to glory within the borders of Minwa Dynasty. Having already attained some notoriety from a bar fight, Anry finds himself pressured by a youth named Taizong Muhtar and his studious and firm mother, Cixi Song, to help find Taizong's younger sister in the city. Upon locating her in a hidden underground arena, however, Taizong finds himself thrown into a fight his studies only barely prepared him for. 

Strange Pursuit can be read here.

The above image was drawn by Uminonew, whose online portfolio can be found here.

Strange Pursuit was named after the song of the same name by American new wave band DEVO, as to obliquely reference how The Great Curve was named after another new wave song. I initially named this story Road to Nowhere after another Talking Heads song, but I figured that since Taizong was the focus of this story instead of Zetian, it was better to give him his own unique song title.

As stated in both The Great Curve and In Love This Way, Taizong Muhtar has been deceased for quite some time during most of the events of A Better Place, having been slain after Huaisheng Temple was attacked by Duchess Emma Galan's Seelago forces. Regardless, I was interested in visiting the character in some capacity, and this side-project involving Anry provided an excellent opportunity to see just what Zetian's older brother was like, his calmer, more studious side comparing with Zetian's brattier, confident persona, as well as his focus on grappling over striking. The ending especially amused me while writing it, since I can just hear the stereotypical cheesy shounen ending music playing over all the dialogue, even if we, as the audience, know that Anry and Taizong will likely never meet again. 

We never got to see much of Jennet (Uyghur for "heaven") in either of Zetian's stories, alas, so Strange Pursuit finally let me explore the Muhtar's more spiritual side. Jennet itself underwent a variety of changes in the background; I initially wanted to make it heavily based on Islam, given that Zetian and Taizong are influenced by traditional Uyghur culture, but I wanted to also give it its own unique flavour. Another possibility was adding Falun Dafa influences, but I found innumerable personal misgivings with such a system (particularly its anti-homosexuality and anti-feminist doctrines, as well as its claims of a racially segregated heaven and its anti-science stances). Ultimately, Jennet became an eclectic blend of aspects I considered admirable from religions found around the world, such as the Islamic virtue of charity, Tengrism's belief in becoming one with the skies, Buddhism's drive for self-improvement, Taoism's anti-materialism, Catholicism's concept of solidarity, and innumerable other facets from other religions. While Strange Pursuit still only gives a small sample of Jennet, we'll likely be seeing a bit more of it in a future story...

All things considered, I still remain somewhat divided as to whether I prefer Migizi or Anry as a representative for the ranger class in A Better Place; while I feel Migizi has a more interesting plot arc and better fits the archetypal ranger, Anry feels like a more interesting character in relation to both Migizi and the rest of the cast due to his more outgoing and brash personality, at the cost of being a bit atypical for a ranger. Regardless, I strongly feel that if the two of them ever met, they would not get along particularly well, Anry's brash and devil-may-care attitude strongly clashing with Migizi's spiritual and reserved persona. That itself, however, sounds like an interesting idea for another story...