Mild spoilers:  some backstory elements from The Nyverian Curse

As the first rayshan we meet in my book, The Nyverian Curse, Scrap carries the responsibility of introducing his race to the readers. A hard task, considering that he isn’t an ordinary one at all, but the sole rayshan alive with Adler’s syndrome. Unusually colourless for a rayshan, incapable of magic, and incapable of benefiting from the effects of the Colosgerus tree, Scrap embraced his mortality and seeks to make the most of it. His name was deliberately ironic: Aiken means ‘oaken’, or from the oak tree, which is associated with longevity, age-old wisdom, and strength—all qualities that Scrap lacks. ‘Ra’, of course, comes from the Egyptian god of the sun, and is suggestive of immortality, which he also lacks.

Being one of the earliest conceived characters, Scrap is one of those that had the luxury of evolving over a decade of writing. The inspiration for his personality came from one of my close friends, a mousy smartass who was at times selfish but had a moral compass that functioned well enough.

At first, the character was one that actually got along quite well with the Dakusin, particularly Taivas Robane. They both shared an interest in knowledge, a strong sense of loyalty, and the thirst for adventure. It was fascinating therefore, when as the years went by I started to see the relationship between the characters evolve and mature (and by the way, I love it when that happens; I’ll be saying it over and over again that the characters really do come alive, and start growing all on their own without me having anything to do with it!).

Scrap’s loyalty shifted to apply only to a single person, Gia, who never judged him for anything less than his talents and achievements. His thirst for adventure was eclipsed by his desire for self-preservation, which stemmed from the nature of his disease. His desire to surmount his disease and prove himself to his peers, while admirable at first, also started to inflate his ego the more accomplished he got. This would start to rub Taivas the wrong way, and soon a coarser relationship developed between those two, which was all the more entertaining. 

As I write this, I realize with a smirk that although Scrap is one of the youngest characters in the book, especially by rayshan standards, he remains one of the oldest and consistent creations in the story. Perhaps ‘Aiken’ isn’t such an ironic name after all.