Exploring the World of Portus: The Creation of the Fire Lord Trilogy

Overview: The Creation of Portus

The first book, the one that started it all, The Last Voyage of the Betty-Lou, was written because of a dream I had about a flying boat. In the dream, I remember that I was standing on top of a mountain, and this flying ship, like the old time sailing boats like the Nina or the Pinta of Christopher Columbus era, flew by. The sun was setting and the puffs of clouds were glowing yellow and orange. I saw the ship’s brilliant outline as it flew by the setting sun as the ship floated by me, and I wondered, “How is this ship flying?” Then it turned around and came back. It gently floated so near that I reached out my hand and touched it.

I woke up with this vivid dream and began to write. The original story was going to be the Story of the Betty-Lou (that is an idea for another book) but as I started putting words together on the computer, I realized that it was my son’s story, Gideon. I worked on creating a world and had to give it a name. After many iterations, I came up with ‘Portus’ meaning gateway or door. I also had to create a backstory (another idea I will flesh out in a book) about Portus. I felt that the human population came from earth, but I wanted that fact to be forgotten in history and legend. The question of why they left earth arose and I thought about them fleeing oppression, but discarded that as trite. Eventually, I decided to still have them fleeing, but to escape justice. With that, the conflict of Portus was established. The travelers brought tyrany with them, but the flame of freedom could not be extinguished. It would be a book about the fight for freedom.

More details about Portus had to be established starting with the Betty-Lou. Why was the Betty-Lou a flying ship? What made her come back to me in my dream? What did she really look like? To answer the first question, it struck me that all ships had to fly because the oceans of Portus were deadly. Where did men get the idea of flying? It must have been because they saw many creatures flying. In fact, there had to be a full ecosystem in the air. How did these creatures, aside from birds, stay aloft? I invented a new gas, much like Kenneth Robeson, the author of John Carter of Mars, created a new color to fly his airships. I called the gas xeoxyn. Men figured out how to harvest this gas from flying creatures or plants that produced it.

Back to the oceans of Portus, they were deadly because they were vast and deep, which allowed monsterous leviathons and enormous fish to flourish. As soon as man built a boat and floated on the ocean, they discovered to their dismay, that it would be devoured by one of these large fish. The biology of the ocean, I left for the second book. But the ecosystem of the air and land, I took some time to describe. Using words common on Earth, I adjusted them to give them an other worldly feeling. For example piglin, a furry pig-like creature, but not a pig exactly.

What was special about the Betty-Lou? She came back to me because she was alive. She was called the Betty-Lou because that was the name of the spirit that resided within her. The original girl named Betty-Lou had a tragic and unjust death and her father, Clarence Elder, had built this unique dragon ship and in his anguish he traveled West. He ran into the Maelstrom, a perpetual cyclone like the one Jupiter has, and was shipwrecked. Something about the Maelstrom connected Betty-Lou’s spirit with the airship, and thus the Betty-Lou was born. The ship was wooden, dyed dragon green, with a magnifiscent dragon head at the prow (why a dragon will come out later). Unlike most other airships, she did not hang from a large bouyancy tank of xeoxyn gas above her. Her tanks were ingeniously fitted into the interior of the ship. Needless to say, I had an interesting time learning about the parts of a ship as I wrote this first book, The Last Voyage of the Betty-Lou.

The plot revolves around the question, Why was it the Last Voyage? I thought she was old and was going to retire. Then, I needed an old captain, Gideon’s grandfather, Ariel Livingston. But the story was about Gideon, who was just 18 cycles old (I had to create a new time system based on solar cycles, lunar cycles, sun rotations, and a maritime bell system). Then the ideas began to flow about the conflict in the world and the need for a hero. But not just any hero, a super-powered hero. I’ve always been intrigued by fire and borrowing ideas from the x-men and fantastic four, I wanted to have a hero that could actually create the fire…be the fire and control all aspects of fire. I examined every part of fire, from the invisible flamable gas at the base, to black smoke it emits at the top. This had to be different fire….green fire…dragon green fire.

So, connecting all this, Gideon has to take a “last voyage” on the Betty-Lou with his grandfather. Why? They have to rescue someone. Why? This is where the tyranny shows up. Before they can battle this tyranny, Gideon needs to become the Fire Lord. Gideon has already shown signs of power over fire, but it doesn’t fully manifest itself until he arrives at a rebel fortress with his great aunt Mercedes (many of the names of the characters come from my own family or people I knew- only the good characters). He is given the Matrix-like choice to join the rebels and change the course of his life, or lose his memory and go back to his old life, none the worse. Obviously he had to choose the life of the hero. Once that was done, his true heroic nature was revealed in a dragon symbol burned into his chest and green flames coming out of his hands.

Other details like who they were fighting and how they were doing it were fleshed out. I developed the idea that Gideon, and his grandfather, had a mental bond with the Betty-Lou. Betty-Lou becomes the mentor and guide for Gideon as he

Betty-Lou becomes the mentor and guide for Gideon as he learns to use and control his powers but also to help him become the legendary leader he was destined to be. She is there as a sounding board anytime he has a question, doubt or concern. She is there to cheer him on in the battle against pirates and she is there to pick up the pieces of his shattered ego in his first experience with love.

In the next newsletter, I will discuss the stone technology of Portus.

Thanks for reading and thank you for checking out the reduced prices for The Last Voyage of the Betty-Lou.

Best Regards,

Dr. Benjamin Johnson

Educator and Author of the Fire Lord Trilogy and other books.