Hello, dear readers.
The writing journey of Volume 1 was complicated. Full of mistakes and successes, but it's reached the end of the first stage of the story. Honestly, it fell far short of what I wanted to do. But unfortunately, as I'm still a beginning and inexperienced author, reality ended up crushing the expectations I had for it.
I also had to correct and rewrite dozens—maybe hundreds—of parts of Volume 1. Those of you who followed me from the beginning (if anyone from the start is still reading) know what a mess it was in the early days. Fortunately, I've fixed everything I could without drastically changing the events of Volume 1.
For Volume 2, I won't repeat the same mistakes I made in Volume 1. That's because the habit that made Volume 1 a mess—extreme improvisation—I no longer practice. Now I write with longer, more calculated outlines. I write arc by arc with care. That's why the final stretch of Volume 1 differs so much from how the first two-thirds were written. You can feel the shift if you're paying attention.
There will be a massive worldbuilding expansion in Volume 2. Massive. The work will return strongly to multiple POVs per chapter out of writing necessity. The two major arcs—involving the new Elysion and the Insir Empire—will both be inspired by the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history.
On Influences and Creative Direction
Foundational inspirations — the bedrock of House of Puppets from the beginning:
Classical theism, Dostoevsky, Reverend Insanity, Lord of the Mysteries, Fear & Hunger, Elden Ring, and an enormous list of others. These shaped the world, the metaphysics, the questions the narrative asks.
Late-stage creative influences — people and voices that arrived later and shaped how I executed what was already planned:
I'd like to credit three people who don't even know this work exists and have no idea I'm writing it: Jonas Kilker, Harry Miller, and The Great Dane.
The ending of Volume 1 was mapped from the beginning. The broad strokes, the major beats, the arcs themselves—all planned. What these three influenced was the space around that ending. The execution. The way events unfold at the approach, the choices characters make when pressure peaks, the detail work that separates a satisfying conclusion from a contrived one.
Without that influence, the ending I'd planned would have worked mechanically. But it would have risked sounding hollow—like the protagonist simply moved through predetermined steps without real resistance or weight. These three helped ensure the ending felt earned rather than executed. That's a subtle difference, but it's the difference between a story that works and a story that lands.
And they'll continue to influence specific narrative choices in volumes to come, in ways that unfold naturally from what's already been set.
These three arrived late in the process, but they landed when they mattered most: the closing act.
On Structure and Audience Compatibility
House of Puppets is built on the structural model of great literary chronicles—A Song of Ice and Fire, The Saxon Stories—works that trust the reader to sit with complexity, that don't solve every thread immediately, that move through arcs that build rather than spike.
The thing is: webnovel platforms are designed for short engagement loops. Constant escalation. Each chapter a hit of momentum that demands the next. House of Puppets could have leveraged that. Early on, I had the tools for it.
But I chose not to.
Not because other approaches are wrong—they work for different stories and different audiences. But because I have a personal aesthetic incompatibility with narrative methods built entirely around dopamine response cycles. I've read a lot of high-engagement work that delivers compelling short-term thrills but hollow long-term arcs. That's not a judgment on the method itself. It's a personal distaste that I decided to honor rather than override.
So House of Puppets commits instead to a different contract with the reader: pressure and precision over constant escalation. Arcs that breathe. Questions that stay open longer than feels comfortable. Payoff that arrives when it's earned, not when the algorithm demands it.
This is compatible with webnovel format. But it's deliberately different from what that format typically asks for.
For those who read this complete Volume 1: this is the formula, the pattern I'll follow with every volume. Constant pressure on constant pressure. Tension accumulating. All building to a release in the final stretch.
A sincere thank you to everyone who read this. I mean it.
Retroactive Changes & Patch Notes
If you're starting Volume 2 fresh (or picked up the series after Volume 1 concluded), you can skip this section.
For those who've been reading from the start: some chapters have been revised. Nothing changes the major events or structure—Gepetto's path, the revolution, Maerath's death, Adrian's rise, all of it holds exactly as you read it. But clarity has been added in a few key areas:
Worldbuilding clarifications:
- Early chapters now establish that Elysion comprises five distinct regions, with the central heart—where Aurelia, Eldravar, and Vhal-Dorim sit—being the node where systemic pressure moves. Volume 1 takes place entirely within this central region. The other four regions are periphery: agricultural, military, buffer zones. This geographic logic becomes crucial in Volume 2.
The language enigma:
- House of Puppets is set in a world that speaks Portuguese, German, Italian, French, and English—the exact languages of our world. This has no logical explanation within the narrative. It's intentional. The original game never answered this question either, despite making it clear this wasn't a convenience but a deliberate worldbuilding choice. The community spent years theorizing about it. Some chapters have been adjusted to subtly underscore this strangeness, particularly around Gepetto's sudden fluency in languages he never learned. It will matter in ways that unfold across the volumes.
Mechanical clarity:
- Several combat and ability sequences have been refined to make the underlying "hard magic" explicit without being didactic. How things work. What they cost. Why certain outcomes occur instead of others. This shift happens noticeably around Chapter 91, where the writing style itself moves from impressionistic to precise.
The story is the same. The understanding deepens. That's all.
Volume 2 begins shortly after where Volume 1 ended—time has passed, but not much. Enough for the initial shock to settle. Not enough for the real consequences to fully unfold. I hope you'll follow it forward.