Home News Intro About Pics Stories Links

By Way of Introduction...

So, why the heck are we here, anyway? No, I don't mean philosophically...I'm not really the 'contemplate thy navel' type, anyway. Wanna purpose in life, go see a priest, psychiatrist, friendly army recruiter, whatever, that's not what I'm about here. No such far-reaching goals will be located in these pages, or if they are, I assure you they're completely coincidental.

What is here? Pretty much the basic personal web site (big surprise, huh?), more or less dedicated to that critter I designed for, and play on, such places as Tapestries and FurryMUCK. It's also a place to showcase some of the images drawn of that same critter (that's Chessia, if it's not immediately obvious), ones available on the vast information playground known as the internet, and some not available anywhere for whatever reason. And, the most important reason, it's a place to show off some of the fruits of my dubious talent...I'm a writer, y'see, a science fiction/fantasy author. Who someday hopes to make a living off said alleged talent, but often needs a little kick in the ass to get going, so...one web site, prob'ly one that'll be perpetually under construction, to encourage me to write more and fill the bloody thing up. My own personal kick in the ass.

Anyway...before anyone thinks this intro is totally devoid of content, let's start things off by answering a few questions I've been badgered with over the years. I'm gonna save things like 'What is a furry?' and 'What the heck is a MUCK?' for wiser heads than mine...I'll include links on the 'Links' page, that I hope'll do a far better job of explaining those than I ever could. As I said, this is a personal site, so let's keep things on a personal level as much as possible, 'kay? On to the nonsense:

Why a demon bunny? Not an easy one to answer...but definitely not due to any possible satanist impulses on my part. My religion's my own business, but I most assuredly do NOT attend Black Masses or anything of the sort; put more simply, no, I am not a satanist. The true impetus for creating such a thing was my want of a decidedly different character to roleplay, one that could have fun, have some powers and abilities beyond those of ordinary furries, have some limitations (far as I'm concerned, playing some godly critter with no weaknesses is BORING!) without being crippled by them, and (the most important part) be fairly unique. That last was the most important part, but a tall order...I flatter myself that I succeeded, though. Amusing fact: When I first showed up on Tapestries as Chess, there was literally an uproar...'Demons can't be furries!' 'A bunny who's a demon?'...that sort of thing. Now, I've met at least five of them, demonic rabbits that is, and any number of demonic furs, demon foxes or whatever else. Some have called me the 'original', which I doubt is true, but I think I helped to make the idea popular.

Anyway (sorry for the little digression, there)...why a demon bunny? The answer is...the 'human element' (the guy writing this) is in the American Southwest, and I'm not sure where the tall tales of the jackalope began exactly, Wyoming has been mentioned, but they're a popular thing in these parts. Not exactly star of stage, screen and TV, but a popular tourist item in some areas. And, what is another name for the horned (usually antlered), sometimes-hooved jackrabbit called the jackalope? Demon bunny. Take that to its illogical extreme, turn the jackalope into a hermaphroditic demon in lapine form, and voila, Chessia.

What the heck is 'Everybody play naughty, now?' Easier one to answer, and a prime example of what I've said before...serendipity rocks! My silly little tag line came about one night on Tapestries, when I (as Chessia, that is) was ready to go on to bed. Someone else was doing the same (no, I don't remember who), and left right after saying to the crowd where I was, "Play nice, everyone." Me being, well, me, I chirped up with something like, "That's no fun! Ever'body play naughty!" Just a silly little comment, nothing special, that I likely wouldn't even have remembered...if someone the next day hadn't asked me, "So, you playin' naughty?" (I answered, naturally, "Of course!" without even really remembering what brought it on, as I recall) The line stuck...mostly due to my own efforts, I'll admit, me soon going 'Ever'body play naughty, now!' when I left a room, then using it as the signature line in emails, and so forth. Hey, there's worse things to be associated with, right? I can neither confirm nor deny the rumor I heard about someone at a convention wearing an 'Everybody play naughty, now!' T-shirt...t'wasn't me, that much I can say. Too bad, I'd love a shirt like that.

Chessia, Chess, Chess Demon, Chessia Demon...what? Would you believe all of the above? Let me explain...the character name was originally Chess (to this date, I still have people from Tapestries saying things like, 'I knew a fur named Chess, but you're Chessia...'), a name derived from two sources, my enjoyment of the game of chess (no surprise there, I'm sure), plus my liking for the musical Chess (some people may remember the song 'One Night in Bangkok' that came from that show). And it seemed an appropriate handle for a demon...tales have always been told of the Devil being tricked into playing games, in order for someone to cheat the 'dark one'. So why not chess?

Then came FurryMuck...Chess as a name was fine for Tapestries, there was no 'Chess' already there. Unfortunately...there was one on Furry. I couldn't exactly mug the owner of the name and steal it (whether or not that might be a perfectly demonic thing to do). So, after some soul-searching and a few suggestions from others (and after deciding against such things as 'Chess_Bunny' or 'Chess_Demon', I didn't really wanna get into the name_species schtick), Chessia came to be. A compromise, really, keeping the original name, but giving it a bit of a slant. I've gotten used to the new handle (oh, by the way, I think of it as 'chess-EE-ah', not 'CHESS-ya', but I'm not picky about it).

As for the Chess Demon and Chessia Demon...technically, Chess has no 'last name' (that's a roleplaying thing, she's astranged from her father, or she'd follow demonic custom--at least how it's put together in my stories--and use Firaxis Rook's first name as her surname, being Chessia Firaxis, basically). But, as so many free email providers require last names in the setup... I think with at least one provider I set her up as Chess T. Demon, 'Chess the Demon'.

Is Chessia good or evil? Yes! *giggle* Sorry, there's no simple, pat answer for this one. I'm personally convinced that 'pure evil' and 'pure good' don't exist to begin with, and I don't think I've ever met a pure evil person (I rather hope I don't, really), nor one who's wholly good. Should a demon be pure evil? Heck if I know...more to the point, is Chess pure evil? Nope. Does she do things that one would consider 'good' or 'evil'? Certainly, who doesn't?

She's definitely no Jeffrey Dahmer or Adolph Hitler...and no Mahatma Ghandi or Mother Theresa either. Which is how it should be, I think. Think about it...as what could well be considered a 'sex demon', a succubus and incubus, her reason for being is to provoke mortal lusts--if demons are considered spirits, or one thinks of them as coming into being as personifications of the sins of mortal-kind, one might even call her a personification of mortal lusts. That's what she's for, inspiring lust, and she's pretty damn good at it.

If there's any one word that might describe her, 'amoral' might be it...she has something of a sense of right and wrong--something of a sense of honor, even--but by her lights, how she was brought up, there's nothing at all wrong with inspiring 'evil' thoughts, and leading mortals into doing things that might cause them to go to hell (cheating on spouses, performing all those cool sexual acts they'd likely be ashamed of later, and so forth). Might even say that's her job.

The fact that she enjoys all that is beside the point, of course.

Why the heck does Chess smell of cinnamon and vanilla?! Easy answer, probably bullshit answer...she doesn't, that's just the way mortal senses interpret something they Were Not Meant To Know®. Okay, now that the rigamarole's out of the way... Real reason, as John Harrington put it, she smells like a candy shop left out in the sun too long (I'm paraphrasing), is that the powerful pheromones she exudes all the time, possibly the most potent weapon in her sexual arsenal, need something more than her smelling of bunny-musk and hints of brimstone to make people smell the things.

Add in a nice pleasant scent, or a pair of them, really... I'm sure not everyone likes cinnamon or vanilla, but even those that don't, the natural tendency when getting a whiff of those odors is to widen the nostrils, breathe in deeply...and get a nice dose of pheromones in the process, with her. Simple, huh? Insidious as, well, hell, but pretty simple.

Sie, shi, or she, which should be used for Chessia? I'm not adamant about any of 'em, but if I had my druthers (that's Southern-speak for, 'If I had my way'), she, and the accompanying her instead of 'hir'. Don't get me wrong, I don't fault anyone for preferring the others (or 'hie', or 'xie', or 'shie', or 's/he', or any of the others I've heard over the years), I've actually used 'sie' and 'shi' both, at one time or another, but they never felt right to me. Plus, being a writer, and one who usually writes using a computer and word processing program, I love being able to spell-check my stuff and not have all the pronouns get flagged as wrong.

Yah, I know, that's a silly reason, and I know spell-checkers will let you add all those sorts of words into thier dictionaries...I don't care, so there! Actually, the real reason is simply that the regular run-of-the-mill female pronouns seem right to me. And right for Chess, who technically is just as much male as female (or succubus as much as incubus, those 'halves' of her forever balanced), but was still raised to think of herself as femme first, him second--guess the demon-kind don't go in for all the silly pronoun crap, huh? At any rate, one of the best ways (I think) to get into the heart and soul of one's characters is to be able to identify with them, either from a writer's standpoint or a roleplayer's, and let's face it, I identify better with 'she' than with 'sie' or 'shi'. That's enough, I think.

Start page (that's 'Home', y'all)
News (if anyone's actually interested in this stuff)
Introduction
About the character of Chessia
Pictures of Chessia (I'm so proud!)
Stories I've written
Links ('cause everybody needs a links page, right?)

Optimized for: A sense of humor! Those lacking same in their systems should seek an upgrade immediately.