A Test: The Poll in WordPress

Feb26

It’s time for the monthly Patreon Theme Poll, and, well, my Dreamwidth subscription lapsed.

So here is a poll in WordPress, just to see if it works out.

What are you voting for?  The theme for my Patreon for the month.

This will dictate the story posts as well as informational posts, reposts, and sometimes the trunk story and map.  (Maybe even the recipe!)

Who can vote?  Anyone!

For information on the settings, see landing pages: Tír na Cali, Reiassan, Things Unspoken.  Edally Academy does not have a landing page yet, but it is a sub-set of Reiassan in the steam-goat era and has a serial webpage here: http://www.edallyacademy.com/.

[yop_poll id=”2″]

 

Spoils of War I: Surrender

Feb22

It was long past sunset when they heard the trumpet sound.  

Nikol didn’t let her guard down.  Just because the treaty had been signed didn’t mean the enemy would-

She spat out a Working as someone tried to hamstring her and kicked him in the face.  He must have good night vision – or, like her, know where everyone on the field was in a ten-foot radius.

She put her boot on his neck and spat out a couple more Workings, her blade poking into him where it would slip through his ribs and cut into his intestines if he got too rambunctious.  “Surrender,” she suggested.  Nobody else was moving.  She didn’t have to kill him.

The trumpet sounded again.  The man under her boot spat out something that was probably not a surrender.  “Prisoners of war go to the Mountain,” she told him, letting her blade break the skin.  “On the other hand, personal prisoners stay with their captors.”

“Not a prisoner,” he grunted.  He was not trying to get away, which was clever, but which also made her wonder what he was trying.   Continue reading →

Tootplanet: Explorers’ Logs Planet 7-19-2

Feb22

Explorer Log 7-19-2

We landed on an area covered in the shortest flowers possible.  We’ve already nicknamed the planet Flora, even though Gerj has been pointing out that just means “plants” to anyone who listens.

The question we’ve got is, if there’s all this flora (you’re welcome, Gerj), where are the fauna?

We’ve found some insects – nothing that seems to like the taste of us, but one that gets in your face like nothing & another that stings – but nothing bigger than that, yet.

If there’s no animals on this planet, it’s going to be a long five years.

Planetary D21

We found animals!

The problem was, we’d thought they were flowers at first.

They are small, no bigger than the palm of my hand, and they are covered in fur whose patterns match the flowers they live in.

With that in mind, we’re going to do a more thorough exploration for fauna.

I’m a little bit worried what we might find right under our feet, to be honest.

Planetary D121

After observation that consisted of sitting very, very still for many hours, we’ve been able to identify five animal species.

Three of them have egg-based birth, one live birth, and one is something similar to a marsupial.

None of them appear to be flight-capable, although three live in the tree-flowers. None are bigger than my two hands together.

And one, a ground-dweller, makes the most lovely songs when it thinks it is alone.

I love this planet.

 

 

Tootplanet: Captain’s Log Sector 7, Subector 19

Feb22

Star Log, Sec. 7, Sub 19-1

There were theories that the farther from Earth we went in any given section, the less likely we’d be to find habitable life.

Those theories aren’t holding true.

This planet would be warm for most humans, but were it not already inhabited by a lizard-like race of bipeds, it would be a very nice place to settle.

Their technology is fast approaching space-faring.  We sent down a greeting probe and took quite a few recordings of their transmissions.

It appears, if translations are correct, that they enjoy soap operas.

Star Log, Sec. 7, Sub 19

I didn’t want to send down a team to this planet.

It’s not like me to let aesthetics get in the way of the mission, but this planet is lovely.

Flowers cover almost every cm of the surface – water flowers, land flowers, even what looks like flowered ground cover on the mountains.  They sway in meadows and make thick, flowered forest-like copses.

We did send down a team, with a suggestion to tread very carefully and, perhaps, bring the boss a bouquet on retrieval.

Star Log, Sec. 7, Sub 19

We thought our lenses were broken when we first looked at this planet.

There are several civilizations growing up on this large planet – on the high side of what we’d consider livable – but I doubt they’ve encountered each other yet.

There is, among other things, a hundred-mile forest and a mountain range separating the two closest.

The trees are only 2m at the highest, and the sentient lifeforms range from 15-30cm.

We could settle on an empty continent, feel like giants against their fauna & flora, & never see the natives.

We moved on instead.

7.19.2

 

 

Light Stories for Patreon

Feb22


So, I was trying to beat a whole herd of tiny monsters on the 4theWords writing game, so I asked for a few prompts. Here are the words that stuck with the Light theme in some way.

💡

Regaining Light Powers

The world had been dark for weeks.

She hadn’t seen the dark since childhood.  The minute her powers began to assert themselves, she was surrounded with a world of brightness and color.  She saw sparkles between people who liked each other and could make the dreariest day light up like a summer noontime.

Then came the flu, and the sweats, and the days and nights of darkness.  She had recovered, the doctors said.  She was physically completely better.

But she hadn’t been able to see anything, had been as blind as she had been before her miraculous “recovery” at the age of eleven, since the flu first attacked her.

She moved awkwardly through the halls of her school, her stick once again sliding across the floor.  She hit someone’s foot, and then someone bumped into her.
Continue reading →

Prompt Me!

Feb19

Okay.
I want to write as many approx. 150-word monsters in the next 5 days as I can stand.
—
Now taking prompts and/or requests

My Patreon theme this month is “return of the light” with a bonus theme of “blood and heart”

Bonus points (2 monsters+) for prompting within one or both of those themes. Continue reading →

Tootplanet: Explorers’ Logs Planet 7-18-2

Feb18

Explorer Log Planet 7-18-2

We went down loaded for bear and packed up for mid-winter.

What we found wasn’t nearly as cold as we expected – not by almost 5 degrees C – and was very occupied with pleasant animal life. Small things, fluffy, sweet-looking.

Of course, we’re so close to the pole and so close to “summer” here that we’re in a period of long days and long nights.  And the sun just set.

Those fluffy creatures don’t look so friendly in the twilight, let me tell you.  And I’m wondering if we prepared quite well enough.

     

    Tootplanet: Captain’s Log Sector 7, Subector 18

    Feb18

    Star Log, Sec. 7, Sub 18-1

    This planet is larger than Earth but not amazingly so, and it is dryer than Earth but not horribly so.

    What is really notable is how flat it is, with only a small amount of variation between the high and low spots, and how quiet it is.  There is little axial tilt, but enough to make it almost homelike; the tides ride far up on the beaches.

    There is civilization here, although they appear to live in low buildings made mostly of wood.  Stone and metal appear in short supply.  

    We sent down a polite greeting probe.

    Star Log, Sec. 7, Sub 18-2

    We were uncertain at first glance if this planet could sustain life.  Its lang masses are almost all at its poles, with only a scattering of small islands like a crooked dotted line between them.  But the southern continent – almost as large as Africa, if considerably closer to round – has greenery and what appears to be some sort of animal life.

    We were reluctant to send down a team, but the readings were so good, it was hard to resist.  A small colony might be very happy here.

    Star Log, Sec. 7, Sub 18-3

    This planet is lightly inhabited – it looks like the equivalent of early Iron-age technology.  We won’t bother them, although we will note to visit every 100 years.

    The strange thing here is that the continents and landmasses are bilaterally symmetrical, eerily so – and in sharp contrast, all of their buildings, structures, even their roads are defiantly, aggressively asymmetrical.

    We would blame it on some strange trend, but even the ruins we’ve seen share the same lopsided style.

    And yet their seas could be drawn with a compass and their mountains with a ruler.

    7.18.2

       

       

      Tootplanet: Explorers’ Logs Planet 7-17-2

      Feb18

      Explorer Log Planet 7-17-2

      The glitter, it turns out, is biological.

      We landed, and everything was fine for the first two days.  We noticed no dangers in the air, nothing on the surface or the rainwater that would cause us issues.

      We sent Spifio out as out canary, and after two days Spif was glittering.

      The thing is, there’s nothing wrong with Spif yet, not as far as we can tell, except the glitter. And the way words seem to glitter in the air when Spif speaks.

      So far, our filters are holding out.  We’re giving Spif a week to see what happens with the glitter.  

      If only Spif didn’t SPARKLE so much when we said he had to stay outside.

      Planetary D47

      We all sparkle now.

      After five days, we let Spifio back into the enclosure. The only ill effect seemed to be the glitter hanging everywhere, and the animals seemed much more interested in sparkling at Spif than in eating him.

      Turns out the glitter has a pheromone which says “one of us”, except that there’s several different pheromone sets.

      Good thing they sent us down with a splittable pod, because I can’t stand the sight of Spif, Lee, or Garana now and Tellie almost strangled Lee last week.

      Planetary D181

      There was a period of time we will not speak of.

      During that time, several things happened, of course.

      We have narrowed the glitter down to five lines, each with its own pheromone. We’ve also developed a blocker which allows us to tolerate the other pheromones.

      In addition, we have found that a particular combination of the glitters has a healing effect – if you don’t tear yourself apart trying to get the stink off of you.

      This planet is fascinating, but 5 years cannot come soon enough.

      Planetary D203

      Garana has figured it out! It took a few false attempts and seventeen animals in cages – three didn’t survive – but we have found a way to block or replicate the effects of the glitter hormones.

      For the first time in half a year, I hugged my wife. And then we went about the more complicated business of determining how these pheromones work on this planet.

      But there was a lot of hugging.