Author's Notes
Nephyla
Nephyla is a fun one, which was originally intended only as a "rescue", but somewhere along the line, I realizes that either I turn it into a full blown revolution campaign, which I didn't want, or she needed to be taken away from Lumekhet.
Then, I thought about what she could do there. Realistically, she couldn't survive on her own anywhere. Best case scenario, she tries to raise an army to take back her throne and fails. That is no fun.
I thought long and hard about how to make her useful enough to keep as crew, but it didn't make sense.
However, at some point, I realized that that is not the best way to present her. Outside her palace, without an army of slaves to care for her every need, she is a fish out of water. She is woefully inadequate for that world. There, we have an interesting journey. A story of getting kicked down from the very top, rebuild herself and rise as a person. Of getting friends instead of servants. Of seeing the world through inexperienced eyes.
Her entire presence is based on her being helpless enough to get sympathy, despite her being a downright annoyance. This is helped by there being no sensible place to drop her off until much, much later.