Damn I Am Pretty Art Laboratories

From Leylines of Crux , by Katnya Batscream, Priestess of the Wolf-Mother. "The world of Orphos has a series of powerful ley lines that crisscross it. The Archdruid Srady landed his people near a confluence of those lines at the start of the invasion. That confluence, wherein thirteen ley lines converged, is the City of Crux. Each line follows natural flows of energy. Like rivers, they move energy. What Srady noticed, was how all thirteen leylines flow their energy to a singular point. What is strange about that confluence? It lies in the ocean just outside of Crux. It seems to build up there, even if there is nothing out there. If anything, it lacks anything of note.  Other than being fiercely protected by Cecaelia Witches and the Prince. As long no one is trying to abuse the power of these energies, then there is nothing to worry. But as any druid knows, being about to tap into one leyline is an incredible thing. Not only do they grant powerful prophetic visions, but our ...

#InTransitMonsters  is a  #firstdraft   #novel  about Technology as Messiah.  Humanity is about to fall, and is forced to create monsters to save itself.  Can these giant monsters succeed, or will humanity's old ambitions damn the species to extinction?  A bit of a shorter entry, but better than none I guess. Previous | Start | Index  | Next Lhyst (H plus 7 Days) My eyes still felt strange to me.  I'd been using them to see for more than a day.  But I still stumbled here and there. It was like learning to walk again. Standing at the edge of Fontana, I watched the Monsters begin their assault.  Seeing them for the first time had been odd, but not frightening.  Each of them towered over me, their bodies proportions all wrong.  They looked more robotic than human.  I didn't know why they referred to themselves as monsters, but the word worked for the moment. I stood on top of the ridge that overlooked Font...

#InTransitMonsters  is a  #firstdraft   #novel  about Technology as Messiah.  Humanity is about to fall, and is forced to create monsters to save itself.  Can these giant monsters succeed, or will humanity's old ambitions damn the species to extinction?  A bit of a shorter entry, but better than none I guess. Previous | Start | Index  | Next Foxtrot (H plus 6 Days) I grunted as my aetherskipping put me back underneath Fontana.  The dark caverns greeted me.  Thunder echoed from my transit. I'd almost hit my head on the way in.  Kneeling down, I opened both my hands.  Glowing dust fell onto the ground around me. "C'mon..."  I waited for the goetic-whatever of Whiskey's to take. Then my BrainSys clicked.  The motes illuminated the sewers around me.  I prepared to move forward, as the blue motes had expanded my perception.  Each mote created a network of glowing blue lines.  My BrainSys foll...

Analysis.  Contact successful.  Subject 52 collapsed within fourteen minutes.  Performed field autopsy. Observation.  Contact poison 75 C is ten times faster than its prior fifty iteration.   Professor: do you wish for me to continue this trial?  Or should I focus on 76 C?  I have several more scorpions in my internal containment bins.  If so, I have several more potential candidates. Venom Weavers explore critical medicinal trials.  The nature of medicine research requires less than savory methods.  Ith has provided for them.  The unsorcerous of Ith have no rights, and often the Venom Weavers can utilize them. In Baskets With Scorpions They Come. Venom Weavers name comes from their practice of carrying venomous animals in woven baskets.  Often they weave medicinal magic into baskets.  Most folk tales describe their baskets as the source of curses and plagues. Venom Weavers disagree.  Theirs is a inter...

The greatest of us must be weighed in blood.  Those were the first words she taught me.  River magick has always been an American tradition, and we owe that woman for it. They think she died out in that ship.  You can't kill a River Witch with a storm. River magic doesn't kill it's wielders.  Water magic doesn't make a body immortal.  But you can use it to bend the rules.  Those who master water, those who call forth the sorcery of oceans and rivers, it gives command over the waters.  But not just the material waters we all see and call. River magic calls the ways.  River magic controls the flow of more than just water.  That is where I never believed Theodosia died in that storm. If you can control the magic in rivers and waters, you can command the flow of time.  Seconds and moments are yours to move as well as the drops in the sky.  Time is a river, and river magick gives it's acolytes the means to control it. Maybe th...

#InTransitMonsters  is a  #firstdraft   #novel  about Technology as Messiah.  Humanity is about to fall, and is forced to create monsters to save itself.  Can these giant monsters succeed, or will humanity's old ambitions damn the species to extinction? Previous | Start  | Next | Index Lhyst (H plus 3 Days) I shouldn't have come with them.  It felt like I was out of place.  Worse, I could sense several people around me.  None of them talked to me. Great.  I had gone from castaway to prisoner. Red remained at my side.  He'd become less of a guide and more of a compatriot.  He and I agreed on the point of getting to leave.  Foxtrot could tell I disliked being stuck in here. Sleep came easier in the monsters' bunker than my bolthole.  Something made closing my eyes easier.  Maybe it caused less stress.  I blamed my subconscious.  It always did this sort of thing to me. I lifted my head...

All legends are lies.  They do not exist, they are something we created for our own satisfaction.  Legends exist to satisfy an urge for stories in the human mind.  All legends are lies. They are fabrications mean to lubricate key memories.  Memories of the dead.  The dead must linger on, so the lies about them mount.  Legends have to be erroneous.  Otherwise, they would tarnish the point. A story is an idea.  Ideas don't die.  Or at least, they outlast a human lifespan by a bit.  Immortality by idea.  Even then, though, rot sets into the tales.  Things become forgot.  Embellishments happen. Legends are meant to be immortal things. They fail in that regard.  We cling to stories.  We need them in order to live.  Stories don't always work.  They sometimes fail us.  Sometimes legends create feedback loops.  They lead to madness.  Conspiracy theories are legends that have failed in ...

Time for a review.  Typically I call these "Reading Materials."  But tonight, I'm going to go with "Viewing."  'Cuz I love this show and want to blog about it. The great thing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe for me is how it connects.   They don't in an overt way.  They don't connect the dots for you.  They put pieces in.  They build bridges that are interesting.  But it means each part of the MCU kinda has to stand on its own to work. Well, unless you are a badass like Agent Carter . Yep.  Before you look at Jessica Jones for interesting women characters; remember Agent Carter .  This is the show that scratches the itch you have for a Black Widow movie.  And people watch it.  How?  WHY? It's about struggles we all love to see! A Theme of Struggle. The themes of Agent Carter deal with the social norms of the 40s.  Carter herself has to deal with being a woman in the postwar world.  Peggy Carter...

#InTransitMonsters  is a  #firstdraft   #novel  about Technology as Messiah.  Humanity is about to fall, and is forced to create monsters to save itself.  Can these giant monsters succeed, or will humanity's old ambitions damn the species to extinction? Previous | Start | Next |  Index Charlie (H +4 Days) I gritted my teeth in frustration.  My Oneiros wasn't lying to me.  No signal from Earth.  The dreamspace constructs I'd created kept a constant contact with it.  They had nothing to report. Nothing . The frustration came from them not giving me any updates.  They lacked the need for complex linguistics, but I knew they felt like they'd failed me.  I didn't want them to feel that way. It's alright.  I know it isn't your fault.  I told my Oneiros, hoping their heuristics would understand.  It sounded strange, but over the last few days I'd become certain it could respond to me.  Act to my...

I am revisiting and rewriting some #Crux stuff .  It felt like a good break to dive into the Esoterium Machina again, who they are and what they do in the setting.  They pursue knowledge.  Sometimes they poke into things they shouldn't.  Other times, though, they are focused on finding ways to make Arcane magick help everyone, not just the few lucky enough to be born with it. For those who read this blog for fiction, no worries.  In Transit Monsters and the rest will get returned to.  I just like worldbuilding now and again. The Ancient Collegiate Esoterium Machina. Headquarters: Crux, Ith. Spheres of Influence: Magic, Science, Knowledge Symbol: A Gear, which it shares with the Church of the Machine. Their name refers to knowledge granted from beyond what is already known.  The Esoterium Machina is a international fraternity of arcane spellcasters, technologists and magical experimenters.  They claim to have originated with the Aet...

#InTransitMonsters  is a  #firstdraft   #novel  about Technology as Messiah.  Humanity is about to fall, and is forced to create monsters to save itself.  Can these giant monsters succeed, or will humanity's old ambitions damn the species to extinction? Previous | Start  | Next | Index Nasr (H +3 Days) I shifted in place at the cocktail party.  I felt uncomfortable in my dress uniform.  A part of me didn't want to come here.  Worse, I felt out of place sipping water next to a woman in a red dress.  She kept guzzling down martinis. I wanted to turn down Whyte's invitation.  It didn't make sense to me.  Why would the CEO of EpicVenture need to have me at a party?  For what, some sort of end of the world demonstration? Mother talked me into coming to this anyway.  Despite whatever my father says, I always listen to her.  She always could talk me into these things.  She knew my buttons well. D...

#InTransitMonsters  is a  #firstdraft   #novel  about Technology as Messiah.  Humanity is about to fall, and is forced to create monsters to save itself.  Can these giant monsters succeed, or will humanity's old ambitions damn the species to extinction? Previous | First Chapter  | Next | Index  | Lhyst (H +2 Days) My legs still hurt from the day before.  Why had I come back?  I could've just stayed in my bolt hole. "We should just find a new place in the city."  I told Red. Foxtrot.  That had been the name of the whatever-she-was that had taken me.  She'd carried us away from the mall.  Not just a few blocks away.  She had carried us to the other side of the Fontana.  Long enough that it had taken Red and I the better part of six hours to hike back. After going through all that, I still came back.  Why? I patted Red on the head.  He'd been my guide both ways.  I learned how to d...

A recent game session, I devised a ad hoc way to handle generating encounters for a dungeon crawl.  So here it is, for free!  A clever way to get players to do part of the work for you.  Me, I use this as a way to surprise myself.  A neat bit of #gmadvice for your next game, system-agnostic-like. I don't like gamemastering dungeon crawls.  Location-based encounters always have triggered my lazy impulse.  This goes for written dungeons as well as me crafting my own.  Part of it is laziness.  The other part is a component of my own gamemastering style: I dislike railroading my players.  Dungeons don't necessarily create railroaded adventures.  But I think too much specific planning ahead only leads to frustration or wasted work on my part. So I normally dodge them.  My last few sessions have been driving toward dungeon crawl of some kind.  The narrative sort of needs it in order to move forward.  So I can't keep avoiding...