Fanfiction is what literature might look like if it were reinvented from scratch after a nuclear apocalypse by a band of brilliant pop-culture junkies trapped in a sealed bunker. They don't do it for money. That's not what it's about. The writers write it and put it up online just for the satisfaction. They're fans, but they're not silent, couchbound consumers of media. The culture talks to them, and they talk back to the culture in its own language.

—Lev Grossman, TIME, July 18, 2011

05/11/2018: I’m genuinely sorry for disappearing for so long. However, over the last few months I have completed my second degree, qualified as an ODP, moved back home, got a job, been to Japan, got my first flat, moved out again, and started work. As much as I love writing, I simply haven’t had the time to do more than odd snippets. I haven’t given up on any of my incomplete fics, especially ‘Strange Visitors’ and ‘To Be A Master’, but it might take some time while I get settled. Thank you for all the support, it really does mean the world to me.

12/04/2017: Apologies for the delay with 'Strange Visitors'. I've hit a bit of a block with the next chapter, and pressures at work and at home haven't been helping, so I'm concentrating on a few other projects for a little while. It's not being abandoned, but it may take some time. Thank you for your patience.

23/06/2015: I have changed my pen-name from Isilarma to Izzyaro.

21/06/2015: I suppose I should explain where I've been for the past year and a half. During my final year at university I developed severe depression and anxiety. My OCD also worsened to the point to the point of becoming a serious problem. Much as I wanted to I was barely able to concentrate on my studies, let alone my stories. I graduated last July, somehow, and promptly had a nervous breakdown, the first of three. I'm doing better now, thanks to a new doctor and new medication, and I'm slowly getting back into writing again. I just wanted to say thank you so much to all the messages of concern and support I've received over the past months. It means a lot to me, and I'm so grateful to have such wonderful, kind followers. I will be continuing 'Strange Visitors', and maybe some other things, very soon.

I am a member of the utterly amazing group known as the Beta Branch. If you want to know more, just send me a PM.

Thank you very much to ReiRuKaZu for making my amazing avatar!

Cover art for ’To Be A Master’ by the very talented peskydoodles.

I now have a tumblr for my fanfics (www(dot)izzyaro(dot)tumblr(dot)com). Feel free to drop by with any questions about the Founders, or any of my fics!

Tales of the Founders Timeline

946: Godric born, Rowena born.
949: Helga born."
950: Salazar born.
958: Salazar’s parents murdered, stays with sister.
959: Salazar leaves for Europe to study.
962: Rowena marries Robert, Godric leaves to go travelling.
964: Hope in the Distance
Cracks in the Wall
965: Tearing at the Seams
All It Took Was A Manticore
The Very First Lifeguard
Nightmares and Memories
968: Salazar and Godric return to England.
The Friend of My Friend is My...
969: When Helga Met Salazar
970: Family
Lessons Learned
971: Belief
982: Helga shares her dream of a school for magical children.
988: Begin work on the castle.
991: Helena born.
992: You Can Laugh or You Can Cry
Light and Dark Don’t Coexist
The Best Laid Plans
993: Hogwarts opens.
994: A Little Help From My Friends
998: Rowena’s husband dies.
Myrddin finishes education.
1001: Helena begins education.
Snow
Hengist finishes education.
1003: Baron finishes education.
I Only See my Nightmares
Order attacks.
Waiting and Hoping
1004: A Thinking Cap Indeed

Divergences:
993: Truths, Myths and Legends
1005: Strange Visitors from Another Century

To everyone who thinks I’ve made Ash an idiot in ’To Be A Master’:

I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you that Ash in the Original Series was an absolute moron. He didn’t know that he had to weaken a Pokémon before trying to catch it, didn’t know what his Trainer License was despite getting it the same day, didn’t know that he needed Gym Badges to enter the Pokémon League, didn’t know anything about type advantage, and tried to take on a Rock Gym with Bug, Flying, and Electric Pokémon.

I like Smart!Ash fics as much as the next person, but that isn’t canon and its not the story I’m writing. Ash won’t be so naïve forever, thanks to a wonderful device known as character development, but it isn’t going to happen overnight.

Jesus had no servants, yet they called him Master...
He had no degree, yet they called him Teacher...
He had no medicine, yet they called him Healer...
He had no army, yet kings feared him...
He won no military battles, yet he conquered the world...
He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him...
He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today.

Stephen Wright: If toast always lands butter-side down, and cats always land on their feet, what happens if you strap toast on the back of a cat and drop it?

Winston Churchill: Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.
Jack Handey: Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.
Albert Einstein: Only the Universe and human stupidity are infinite - and I'm not so sure about the former ...
Dr. Seuss: Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.
Napoleon Bonaparte: Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.
Mark Twain: It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.
Ralph Waldo Emerson: To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.
Albert Einstein: Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.
Friedrich Nietzsche: That which does not kill me will only make me stronger.
Abraham Lincoln: It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

There has been no great talent without an element of madness.
When life gives you lemons, make applesauce. Then sit back, relax, and watch as everyone tries to figure out how the hell you did that.
Stupidity killed the cat. Curiosity was framed.
There are three kinds of people, those who learn by reading, a few who learn from observation and the rest who have to test the electric fence for themselves.
Don't get mad. Get even.
And I have sometimes wondered, in the silence of the night, if it was knowledge of the dark without that scared me, or the dark within.

Excuse me. Have you seen my sanity? I think I've lost it...