That’s about it.
Hello everyone! Thank you for reading my first forum post here at Larian as I crawl out from beneath my rock to introduce myself here in a multi-year overdue story.
My name is Keaton Burney, but you can call me Zath or Zathron if you’d like. I’ve got a masters in Clinical Laboratory Sciences, and currently work as a medical technologist. I have over 20 years invested into fantasy worlds and their thematic developments, writing numerous fictions in many created worlds. When not gaming, I spent my freetime growing up writing dialogue and creating short scenarios testing different styles. Also passionate about music and have converted my bedroom into a recording studio where I produce instrumental guitar and piano pieces with orchestral elements, some of which I am slowly releasing to YouTube and Spotify (and everywhere else) under Keaton Burney. I am also beginning to do voiceover and audiobook work online in said same studio. I am very well versed in narrative frameworks and world-building down the Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time”, Dragonlance, and Divinity styles.
BUT that is to say that, even now, I am clocked in, painstakingly typing and formatting this on my phone due to network blocks, making great money, but feeling entirely unfulfilled. I used to feel like I was helping patients behind the scenes and, while I suppose that’s still true, it doesn’t feel like enough. A flexible and reliable masters degree that they promised you was of gold, and you were so happy, but then had to watch it rust and tarnish into an unrecognizable dross over time. And all of the existential pangs and pocks of subharmonic depression that accompanies that realization. Is that a bit much?
A bit dramatic, you say?
Maybe so, but it’s how it feels.
What I love to do is write. Write music. Write stories. Write emotional dialogue. Do voiceover. I want to help someone in a project that I believe in, that they believe in. A fantasy project of any size from indie start-up, to Larian studios. I saw they were looking for writers here on the forums TEN years ago. By now they’ve been so blessed and prosperous that they’re likely out of the reach of you and me, but I couldn’t be happier for them. Truly. I’ve not seen anyone as passionate as they about the tasks ahead of them than Blizzard 25 years ago working on Warcraft III and Diablo II. Those were beautiful times and my cherished childhood.
With nearing 1,000 hours in Divinity I/II, I’ve become so invested in their world and its lore. From the often unseen but always felt presence of the God-King and the Void, to the hidden machinations of the Ancient Empire and themes of organized religion, power, responsibility, and that the Divine may not be everything they are made out to be. From Ferol all the way to Teneb Tiriel, Rivellon has so, so much to offer. The world has been here for me during the most still nights — the kind of nights you wish you had someone, anyone, but also the nights where you’re thankful everyone is finally gone and your wife gets some early rest and tells you to enjoy that moment to breathe, start the fireplace, brew some tea, and boot up your computer. I’m sure that I’m not alone in this sentiment and that these games have provided similar escapes for all of you as well.
Why am I saying all of this? Well — In short, it’s to say Thank You. In more lengthy terms, it’s to say I want to give back and contribute to this world with you. I am willing to fly over for in person conversations, or video calls remotely and in writing. I am willing to lend my talents entirely free of charge, and make as much time for the work as the work requires. There’s little I’m more passionate about than this. This is not a Larian exclusive offer, if anyone knows of a developer looking for writing, music, voiceover or storyboard work, I would just be the best fit with everything Larian is doing, I feel.
Have a conversation and try me. You have nothing to lose, and only stand at the potential for an even more immersive, warm and holistic end result. Whether it is primary, source (no pun intended) material for the world-building, designing meaningful side quests that develop and fill the environment, or the iconic voice lines of the villagers, it is all beautiful to me. My email is publicly available in my profile should anyone hear of anything or have any leads.
If this is posited in the incorrect area, feel free to move it or someone let me know and I will.
As for anyone who made it this far, thank you for reading. If you are at or nearing a crossroads where you must decide what you are going to do next in college or in life, please do what you love. Money is great, but it is not everything. It brings a flavor of happiness but is not fulfillment. To those here at Larian, thanks for making the dreams of your employees (and many of your players) come true every morning.
Don’t wake up if it means you will stop dreaming,
Zath
