About

How it Began

A page, better preserved than most. Believed to be part of a larger journal. Date unknown, but after 1885. From the Nathaniel Ballard Collection, reproduced with permission.

These are the voyages of Nathaniel Ballard, a mild-mannered Victorian gentleman from the port town of Chatham, Kent, in old England. Born into a moderately prosperous middle-class family, he was largely raised by his mother, his father being perpetually occupied with the construction business he owned. From his mother, he gained a great love of poetry and literature, especially those pertaining to the Arthurian legends. His mother was also an active campaigner for good causes and somewhat of a proto-feminist, long before the word was invented, and so he gained many of his sensibilities from that, overlaid with a love of the chivalric ideals from his reading. Declining to follow his father into the construction business, Nathaniel consented to train for a profession that would at least afford him a reasonable income and respectability until such time as he could pursue his other interests. He trained as an accountant and then took a position with a shipping company, eventually rising to be chief purser on board one of their ships. It was during his adventures abroad that he found himself on the brink of death, only to be brought back into a new and darker life; as a vampire.

These pages chronicle a period of his life, some seven to eight years after his change, when chance and circumstance brought him to the mysterious island of Jasper Cove. They represent extracts from his journal (based mostly on the RP that takes place there), something he has kept ever since he was 12, although much has been lost in his travels. The pages listed in the side bar under “A Story Told” tell some of the story of Nathaniel’s life up until the beginning of this story. These are mostly versions of lost journal entries, that he has recreated from memory.  Somewhere around the diary entry Child of Solitude, Nathaniel decided to supplement his journal entries by trying to write fiction. His attempts at that are recorded under the heading “Nathaniel’s Pen“.

Some time during May, the actual year being unknown to Nathaniel, a great darkness came over Jasper Cove and the island and its residents came under attack from creatures unknown. Nathaniel fled, following advice shouted by others, running towards a light at the end of the island, which seemed the only means of escape. His journey was interrupted by an old, old friend who gave him some shocking news and a quest, before sending him on his way. That story is told here. Nathaniel’s adventures continue in a new realm.

-oOo-

Nathaniel was created as a character in the role-play sim “Legacies 1891” on Second Life. He existed there for some 18 months until the sim closed down. His adventures there, starting some six years after his embrace, remain largely unchronicled, so far, but may yet appear as additional background to this story.In the Legacies story, that part of Victorian London that comprised Legacies was sucked into the Nexus, to be lost forever. Those that could, left, by whatever means they could. Nathaniel, having lost everything he loved in that London, took to the sea, deciding to head to Bremerhaven, determined to seek out his sire.

At this point, two realities emerge. In one reality, Nathaniel made it to Bremerhaven and thenceforth set out on the quest to find his long-lost sire. His story continues to be told on the Legacies Forum. That story starts here, under the heading New Beginnings – Nathaniel’s Onward Journey. This is purely a narrative by me, with no role-play behind it.  As and when Legacies is reborn, he will return from his travels and continue to RP there. That reality also occasionally impinges upon Nathaniel’s dreams – see below.

In the other reality, that recorded in these pages, Nathaniel was shipwrecked and never made it to Bremerhaven. He awoke on the banks of a river, where a mysterious boatman offered him the chance of a new life, if he would cross the river with him. That is how this Nathaniel came to Jasper Cove. Role-play as Nathaniel continues in Jasper Cove, and the journal which he keeps is told here in the posts to this blog. If you want to read from the beginning, you will have to scroll down to the first post, “Choices, Choices“, which was Nathaniel’s introduction to Jasper Cove.

As of mid-May, 2013, the sim known as Jasper Cove came to an end for real life reasons. Many residents, however, including Nathaniel, managed to escape the destruction that came upon that place and found their way to a new realm known as Ashmourne Wylds. Nathaniel’s adventures continue in this new place.

Comments and Likes

Like any author, I am pleased when somebody likes a journal entry or some other post, or when they comment. Given the nature of the Internet, and the various different spheres in which I come across people, and they me, I don’t always necessarily recognise a commenter’s identity, even if I might actually know the person by some other means. So, please, unless you are certain I know you by the identity with which you comment, please leave me a clue who you are, and how you came by this narrative. Just in case I don’t make the connnection between FerretWrangler’s blog and that person being my friend, Julie Noted, on FaceBook.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in the journal pages, and in the writings contained in Serendipity Island, are those of the fictional character, Nathaniel Ballard. They do not reflect the views of the player, or my views on the players of those characters, who I love dearly.

Credits

Most of this site is © 2013 me, save where credit is otherwise given. The words and actions of the other characters, of course, belong to their players. See the main Credits page for details.