A Traal To Remember Annotated Cover
Every time we did one of these stories, I began by thinking “This really feels like just spinning our wheels, we’ve got more important shit to get to,” and just about every time, I ended up being glad we did it. The basic concept behind this one…”What kind of winter holidays might the Rebel races have?”…felt kinda like flailing when Flo and I came up with it.
It turned out to be a crucial step in shifting the Champions from sympathetic antagonists to secondary protagonists. Their team-up with the Peacemakers had started them down that path, and their next encounter with the ex-Peacemakers would cement it. But this interlude ended up setting the two most moral Champions against their war-focused father figures. This foreshadowed conflicts to come, but it also showed them doing the right thing without any of our heroes around to say “This is the right thing and you should do it.” Without this tale, their journey to being better, truer versions of themselves might’ve come across as just a journey from “Kill all the Peacemakers” to “Hey, those Peacemakers… they’re all right!”
Considering what Google corrects my searches to, I’m guessing “a trail to remember” was the phrase Flo was invoking with this title. It’s a new one on me, even now.
Other titles we considered: “Merry Traal,” “The Season of Giving,” “The Season of Love For All,” and my personal favorite, “Have a Savage, Ravaged Axemas.”
That last title would have been my favourite, too, since neither “Traal” not “a trail to remember” ring any bells (*wink*) for me.
Could have been “A Trial to Remember,” perhaps?