Off to Camp

Sorry I haven’t been on lately, but hopefully I can be more active for at least this month. Because this month I am off to camp. Camp NaNoWriMo that is.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, it is a challenge to write a lengthy work in a month. I was thinking of rewriting the next 15 or so chapters of Void Queen, but because I’ve been feeling like crap lately I decided instead to work on a collection of short stories. These will be set in Aetheria, so you might want to brush up on your Aetherian knowledge before reading, or you can dive in headfirst without looking if you feel that more suitable.

I hope you like what I come up with.

Book/Series Review – Vampire Hunter D

12,090 A.D.: It is a dark time for the world. Humanity is just crawling out from under three hundred years of domination by the race of vampires known as the Nobility. The war against the vampires has taken its toll; cities lie in ruin, the countryside is fragmented into small villages and fiefdoms that still struggle against nightly raids by the fallen vampires – and the remnants of their genetically manufactured demons and werewolves. Every village wants a Hunter – one of the warriors who have pledged their laser guns and their swords to the eradication of the Nobility. But some Hunters are better than others, and some bring their own kind of danger with them. 

 

This world is such an engaging one to read. It is set in the future, but due to the influence of the Nobility it has become this weird combination of high technology in an extremely gothic european setting. The author does a good job of getting this across too, it feels very gothic, yet you come across details like someone commenting on the “model” of a horse, or shooting horrible monsters with a laser rifle. These details do not feel jarring to me though as their existence is explained. The history of this world is so detailed too, you can feel it as you read through the series and pick up all the hints and references. I think this series is a true example of a good world-building process.

Vampire Hunter D is just one extremely intriguing part of this world. This half vampire half human, Dhampir, is cold and quiet. He is often the greatest mystery in the stories.

However when looking into this series at first I was startled at the mixed reviews, while many were glowing the ones that weren’t cited many technical flaws to an extreme degree. This confused me even more as I read the novels and was unable to find many of these flaws. Thinking back over them I wanted to address some of them and why the readers may have come to that conclusion.

The Void Queen – A Ship Profile

Structure

Appearance: While not exactly streamlined the Void Queen does have a smooth, shapely appearance which is similar to that of sword, she is only one deck thick which adds to this blade-like image, she has a slightly peaked ridge along her centre. Main airlocks are on the edges of the widest part of the ship’s blade while smaller airlocks are arrayed all along the edge.

Armament: Along the central ridge four railgun turrets (two on each side) which can shoot anything from scrap metal to ballistic torpedos and even nuclear devices. They are operated by human gunners.Two extensive armouries are located by each major airlock, containing a mix of melee and ranges weapons.

Propulsion: As well as the main engine bank at the rear of the ship which holds both regular engines and FTL drives there are many small but powerful manoeuvring thrusters on the edges and central ridge.

Internal layout: Listed from point to engines.

• Bridge: The bridge is a small room at the front of the ship which is very triangular, it seats six people at a time, usually, helmsmen, captain, first mate, navigator and defence coordinator.
• Officers and guest quarters: Houses rooms for the captain, first mate, navigator, three helmsmen and the defence coordinator as well as three guest rooms. Also contains the navigation room, which holds ships logs and maps (the navigation room is on of the closest to the bridge, the other is the captains room).
• Training and recreation: Includes a few mess halls, various training areas and games rooms, extends to just before the airlocks.
• Airlocks, Armoury and Staging area: Between the airlocks and their respective armouries is a long hall, as wide as the armouries and airlocks combined. Many doors open on to it from the training and recreation area and the barracks. It also contains the ladders which provide access to the central ridge and its guns and propulsion units. This is where the crew may gather before a big fight.
• Barracks: Individual rooms for up to 80 crew aligned in four rows with two hall ways. Each room is small, a single bunk, a small wardrobe and a small bathing area.
• Cargo hold: Stretches along the narrowest part of the ship, contains many hidden storage areas as well as the obvious ones.
• Engineering: Where the main engines and the FTL drives are maintained as well as their massive fuel supplies. Also contains the gravity generator for the ship.

 

Crew

Roughly 50 members.

Bridge: Visoca, Tamra, 2 dedicated helmsmen and one helmsmen who performs other duties, the Navigator and defence coordinator. Only the helm is manned at all times.

0g Specialists: 12 including Visoca and Tamra. They are made up almost equally of melee experts and ranged experts.

Boarding Party: (not including 0g) Another 20 or so girls are regularly part of the boarding parties, divided into almost equal teams of melee and ranged.

Gunners: Operate the rail guns during an attack there are 6, maintained by the defence coordinator during an attack.

Engineers: 2 fully qualified engineers and 3 assistants. They maintain the ships propulsion systems and other tech.

Other: 2 medics run a sick bay in the recreation area and 1 girl performs odd jobs for anyone who asks.

 

History

The Void Queen was originally known as the Crimson Blade. She was commissioned by and built for one of the richest pirates of the times. He had it modelled after his favourite sword and it was the terror of the void for almost 3 full years. Visoca then upgraded to a ship she thought good enough to take it on, a small nimble thing which held only 30 crew and went after the bounty.

The Void Queen was hard won, Visoca lost 9 women in its taking. She refused the bounty when she saw the quality of the ship, instead deciding to keep it herself. She renamed it The Void Queen and had it repainted.

Information on Anglia

Anglia is one of the odder planets in the galaxy. It is ruled by a monarchy, this is not odd. Its main export is mercenaries and weapons, again not odd. What is odd is its devotion to the old ways. From medieval Europe to early Asia they value the cultures where national civilisations were formed without complex technologies. They mimic these cultures, with fashions drifting from eastern to western, including their crafts and their fighting styles. This would seem odd at first, but in fact this has given them an edge. While the rest of the galaxy developed more advanced technology and finally mastered hand held laser weaponry the Anglians stayed firm. The rest of the galaxy also developed new electrically based shields to block these laser technologies. These technologies became prevalent in the rest of the galaxy. At which point the Anglians stepped in, their metal weapons ignored shields and disrupted them in the process. Their new alloys allowed their plate wearing knights to withstand old fashioned metal bullets, and their weapons to do more damage then any expected. However the plate armour was easily heated by lasers, burning the knights inside. A new balance in battle was made, back to the old ways of swordsmen and spear-men supported by ranged fighters. This new order was part of the Anglian legacy.

Anglia keeps a policy in all wars of never taking sides, which is odd considering that even their royal family will work as mercenaries. Officially however Anglia never favours one side over another, instead all mercenaries will take contracts as they please. Anglia is in fact a fairly densely populated planet, and many Anglians live off world. This means that at any one point in time there can be an army worth of Anglian mercenaries taking contracts. Only those who own property on Anglia must pay taxes to the monarchy.

The Anglian monarchy owns five moons, two moons orbiting their own planet and three orbiting their gas giant companion. All five are mined for their rich deposits of iron and other metals. They are protected mostly by trade and peace deals with other planets.

Void Queen – Injustice

Visoca and her crew on the Void Queen have been around the galaxy more than once. They fought in wars which had nothing to do with them, all for a bit of profit. Sometimes they were not respected, but never had so great an injustice as this been suffered. It shakes the entire crew to its very core, throws them off into a spin of anger and sadness. It seems however that nothing can be done, no action can be taken, or so it seems at first.

Read it here

Warning this Story does contain mature content.

Last Song

This story was written just this afternoon and has had minimal editing. Its also a bit morbid.

 

Rain falls down in freezing sheets. Those not dead yet would be soon.

The one benefit of the rain was that it numbed the pain and washed away the blood that had pooled. The rain was hypnotic, lulling them gently into their eternal slumber. The dying seemed content in silently meeting their fate for the most part. All except one.

She had lost all feeling in her arms and legs, and was fading fast. As a last protest to her fate, or perhaps more to the fate of the others, she began to sing.

Her voice was soft and shaky to begin with, stuttering over words as she fought the chill winds. But her pure soprano voice became clearer and stronger as she wove a son that was both intensely sorrowful and eternally peaceful. For a moment it seemed the world held its breath, even the rain seemed quieter, as all listened to the song. One by one more voices joined hers as the dying took up the song.

A choir of hundreds sung with her, mourning the passing of hundreds more, and their own deaths. Like her they had started weakly, but the song strengthened their voices, though not their bodies. They kept singing as long as they could. Strong singers until their final breaths. Their voices flowed across the land, searching.

Aquatics

Aquatics are sentient beings which exist only in water. They include mermaids, octmen and sea serpents. Water magic is very highly valued by all of these breeds.

 

Mermaids

• Appearance: Humanoid torso, arms and head with sealife additions.
• Diet: Will depend on their additions (eg sharks are carnivores, manatees herbivores)
• Civilisations: If living on coral reefs they will usually begin building cities.
• Mermaids are very diverse groups, and are often suspected as being unidentified cross-breeds of humanity and other sealife (perhaps even non-sentient life).

 

Octmen

• Appearance: They are essentially octopi who use their nimble front tentacles to manipulate their environment
  • Some rare varieties are like Jellyfish
  • Even rarer are the squids
• Diet: Omnivorous
• Civilisation: They create great cities under the coral reefs they use as farms and hunting reserves
  • Jellyfish create floating cities
  • Squids live in the darker regions of the oceans.

Sea Serpents

• Appearance: Thin serpent-like bodies with nimble flippers they can use like hands and a fanned tail. They have catfish-like whiskers and are scaled. They survive in water as whales would.
• Diet: Omnivourous
• Civilisation: They live in underwater, air filled caverns. They value learning greatly and keep large libraries.
• Magic: All sea serpents have an affinity with water magic of a mage nature. Some rare breeds also have superb control over air which can allow them to fly as well as they swim.

 

Gryphs

Gryphs are quadrupeds with avian head and forelegs. They use their nimble front claws to manipulate their world and to walk. Some Gryphs are winged some are not. All breeds of Gryph that can fly value any sort of air magic.

Here are some of the current identified breeds of gryphs:

Hippogryphs

• Appearance: Songbird forequarters, ungulate (hooved) hindquarters.
• Diet: Herbivorous
• Civilisations: Tend to be primarily wild grazers or gentle farmers.
  • Sometimes they will build complex aviaries in giant forests or partway up mountains.
  • Wingless versions live mostly in the open, or in cities on the plains.
• Communication: They communicate using complex songs unique to their songbird forequarters.
• They tend to like naturalistic magic.

Gryphons: Felines

• Appearance: Birds of prey as their forequarters (often owls) with feline hindquarters
• Diet: Carnivorous, will hunt hippogryphs, centaurs or small mammals (if gryphon is small in stature).
• Civilisations: Tend to value noble sensibilities with a strong sense of proper societal roles.
  • Will also build complex aviaries in giant forests or partway up mountains.
  • Wingless versions will become livestock farmers often
• Communication: Their language is harsher then their Hippogryph cousins, with a screeching quality
• They tend to like weaponised magic, thus only valuing druids for their air control.

Gryphon: Canine

• Appearance: Much like their feline counterparts, more like to have raptor forequarters
• Diet: Carnivorous, will hunt, but also scavenge if needed.
• Civilisations: They prefer to be in small tribal groups and will in-fight for status.
  • Prefer natural caves to forests for their aviaries.
• Communication: Much like the communication of other gryphons
• They also tend to like weaponised magic, thus only valuing druids for their air control.

Gryphons: Vulpine

• Appearance: Much like other gryphons, more like to have vulture forequarters. They are smaller than the majority of other gryphons (though there are small canine and feline gryphons)
• Diet: Carnivorous, mostly feasting on carrion.
• Civilisations: They are often in pairs or very small packs, meeting only at carcasses where they’ll fight for their fair share.
  • Prefer living in burrows and nests in forests.
• Communication: Much like the communication of other gryphons
• They also tend to have little preference for any one sort of magic.

 

 

If you have any other Gryph breeds you’d like considered in this universe please share. By the way the Aetherverse is open for anyone to write in as long as you link back to my world-building page.

Monday Report

So its Monday and I thought Id do a weekly post that wasn’t creative writing. Just to update you all on what is going on. This will be divided into multiple sections, with neat headings so you can easily ignore things you are not interested in. I of course assume you are watching me for my writing, and not for details on my life so I’ll start with blog news.

 

Writing Worlds – New worlds and new challenges

So I want to start sharing with you my latest novel, its been in the works for almost 2 years now and is my biggest story yet. This epic story has a minor plot arc that is 10 chapters long :O. But I am so proud of this so I hope you give it a chance. There are a lot of planning documents involved which I want to share with first, to introduce you to the characters, the worlds and the Void Queen. Then I’ll have to decide whether I post the chapters here, or updates with a link to a google doc such as with the Casting Runesongs novel.

The reason I want to get this all out is because I plan on working on the novel during Camp NaNoWriMo in June. NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write a novel in a month. It values quantity (often over quality) in the aim to quickly achieve an editable first draft. I find it a valuable tool for me to get out my stories. So expect a lot of writing from me in November as well.

I hope you enjoy all my upcoming content.

Humans (Aetheria)

If it walks on two feet, has two hands, mostly fur-less skin and possesses sentience it is counted as a human. The diplomats at Corazon are still trying to decide on whether there should be further identifiers. A radical branch of architects (calling themselves the true humans) are trying to implement height restrictions but breeds such as the dwarves, fae and giants are fighting the motion.

Here are some of the current identified breeds of humans:

Architects

• Height: between 5 foot and 6 foot 5 inches tall.
• Civilisation: City based surrounded by specialised agricultural land. Tend to develop an advanced barter system or a currency.
• Tends to prefer mages of any sort over druids for their versatility and power.

Elves

• Height: Between 4 foot and 5 foot 5 inches tall.
• Civilisation: values nature, their hunter gatherer lifestyle in forest favouring their shorter height. They like to leave as little impact on their surroundings as possible.
• Tend to have improved smell, hear and/or eyesight to help in their forest lifestyle.
• Values druids (mostly) and mages with power over growing/life/fertility.

Dwarves

• Height: Between 3 foot and 4 foot 5 inches tall
• Tend to be incredibly strong for their size.
• Like architects have a  city and agriculture set up but maintains this underground.
• Due to their underground habitat they find metals early in their civilisation and become very skilled with its manipulation.
• The agriculture of dwarves will be at least partly underground.
• Dwarves have an excellent sense of direction and sensitive eyes.
• The like druids which specialise in the earth and mages that specialise in fire or metalurgy.

Giants

• Height: over 7 foot.
• These are defined mostly by their size.
• They live on open plains and might develop architect-like cultures.
• They live mostly off of herds of large animals which they may begin to farm.
• They have preferences to magic defined more by their environment or civilisation then by breed.

Fae

• Height: under 1 foot tall
• These are also defined mostly by their size.
• They live in thick sheltered forests, and may either stay gatherers or build tiny cities in the roots or branches of trees.
• They live off of berries, small rodents and nuts, all of which they may farm.
• They prefer druids of land and air.

 

If you have any other human breeds you’d like considered in this universe please share. By the way the Aetherverse is open for anyone to write in as long as you link back to my world-building page.