― Friedrich
Nietzsche
Crais Chronicles was written in 1999-2000 at the height of Farscape's run on SciFi Channel. At the time--and still, to this day--I harbored a grande passion for Bialar Crais (and Lani Tupu). I endeavor to understand his personality, his motives and his actions. It was from this understanding and passion that this trilogy was born. I also agree with Mr. Tupu's observations that Crais is neither a good, nor a bad character, merely a passionate and driven one.
Taking into account Peacekeeper upbringing, Crais behaved according to type. Only by seeing Crais through Crichton's eyes does he become the villain. Even Aeryn Sun has feelings for him, choosing to betray Moya and her crew of escapees to return to what she knew. It was only when Crais meted out her punishment for being defiled by association with Crichton did she turn.
Immaculate Deception was my love letter to both Crais and Scorpius, being their Peacekeeper best, as they vied for the favor of First Council. Pitting them as adversaries for First Council's coveted support for their respective projects filled another plot hole left by David Kemper, et al. What happened to make Crais and Scorpius such bitter rivals? ID puts it together with a ribbon on top. Featuring the truly vicious and despicable(OC) Regulator Liliina EL-Vashti, and the gestapo-like watchdog group, Internal Affairs Directorate.
Serendipity and Procrustes was my way of giving Crais equal face time with the remainder of the cast during the long drought following his abduction of Talyn. Six months passed. Yet we were given no more information than were he a mere guest character. Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone, giving Crais the puzzle of Senna Romero to gnaw upon for half a cycle.
Reparation, in particular, was inspired by a plot hole left by the Farscape creators and writers; i.e. why did Talyn turn on Crais. It was never fully explained. In order to fill this vacuum, I created the original character of Senna Romero. A troubled and troubling woman whom Crais finds himself equal parts repelled and fascinated by. It, like any other OC-driven tale, had to come to a hard and final end prior to the events in the series progressing to Crais reaching out to Aeryn Sun as a surrogate mother for Talyn. Crais' vow to find Senna one day couldn't be acted upon because of David Kemper's ultimately ridiculous and ridiculed decision to kill Crais. Hero's ending being neither here nor there, the denigration of the character to third banana to green t-shirt Crichton and Aeryn was a shameful thing to see. However, if you believe in the matter of Senna Romero, Crais' fall from his former strong, self-determined personality makes terrible sense. His attraction to Aeryn during this phase of his declined can easily be explained by the fact that Talyn needed to replace Senna with another suitable surrogate. And thereby, via the neural link they shared, attraction was born.
Trivia:
In the original version of Immaculate Deception, it was Aeryn Sun who suffered a stillbirth of Crais' child. I rewrote the story, following the reveal of his affair with Darinta Larell.
Senna Romero was a character that came to me in a dream. She was quite the Mary Sue at that point. I had to file off her serial number and shave down her edges a bit to avoid that sort of cliche. Hence her lack of fighting skills, addiction to Hecho Red, time as a tralk, etc. I also gave her the symptoms of depression and PTSD because of her back story. It was to be expected.
In the now missing (and soon to be rewritten) Chapter 3 of Serendipity and Procrustes, Crichton was originally going to, in a drunken state, make a joke about oral sex. That was later toned down to maintain a PG-13 rating.
I've been asked countless times why I did not spell out in detail the love scene between Crais and Senna. I felt the final line of that chapter told the tale without any further comment. "They undressed silently, moving with the resigned comprehension of the damned." I was originally not going to have the two of them sleep together at all. It was not until the scene--from which episode I cannot presently tell you--where Talyn shows Crichton the video that is supposed to be Aeryn having sex with Crais. I figured, Talyn videoed Crais and Senna and superimposed Aeryn's face. Not a far stretch to believe it, right?
Reparation's theme song, Seal's brilliant title song from his CD of the same name, Human Beings, inspired a good deal of what happens. Crais' theme, When a Man is Wrong, is from the same album.
My love of Flamenco music inspired Senna's ability to play Gypsy Flamenco guitar. In researching the background of this music, I hit upon Senna's cultural heritage as a Gypsy, or person of Rom decent. I wanted her to be as different from Crichton as night from day. I also wanted her to share certain cultural memories with Crais.
To hear the entire soundtrack, look up Crais Chronicles on Spotify.
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