A Winner Is You!

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The cat’s out of the bag. It’s the end of April (well, start of May) and that means our Camp Nanowrimo adventures have come to an end. Derek only wet the bed twice, Kait threw-up the really questionable victory spaghetti after a day of mud sports and I learned some words in German that I’m not allowed sharing in polite company. All in all, I think we would all agree it was time well spent. For my compatriots, this was their first camp as I had to attend its scary, remote location alone last year. My survival, clearly, inspired them this time and we gladly signed up for a cabin together. Had we ghost stories and pranks to share!

As it turns out, they reworked the cabins from last year and we were crammed into our small quarters with eight other individuals. At least, that was the intention judging by the name placards left on the bunks. As it turns out, we had two no shows and no less than three international kids! Clearly, we were the worldly cabin and Derek got a pleasant atmosphere to practice his German much to the unending jealousy of Kait and myself. Needless to say, we snuck a lot of hot sauce in his cereal when he wasn’t looking. I may or may not have placed a snake in his boot though it didn’t seem present in the morning so that little mystery has certainly gone unsolved. In true fashion, there was only three guys as well, making us a little outnumbered and certainly on our best behaviour – at least for the beginning. It’s remarkable how dirty girls will get when the mud slinging begins, however.

A few stats, because our no shows possibly forgot about full registration, they were put down for a whooping 50,000 words a piece. In comparison, our two geeky, video-gaming enthusiast Americans were 30,000 and 10,000. Our fourth Canadian had himself listed for a measly 10,000 as well. The Germans were a mixed bag of 30,000; 20,000; and 25,000. Kait and Derek were only 30,000 each as well. Thus, when their bunks remained suspiciously empty for the first week it became clear that our cabin was working with a net 100,000 word deficit. That puts even my 90,000 word goal to shame.

It isn’t too surprising to see no shows. I think last year a third of my cabin failed to arrive or abandoned after the first day. But even then I didn’t have this large of a hole to work under. I am happy to report that, despite this significant handicap, we emerged not only victorious but that we exceeded the cabin word goal a whole two days early and that was before Persnickett and myself finished our stories! I will admit that the Germans did a remarkable amount of work to make this a success and they certainly deserve our appreciation. The final outcome of our collective hard work is as follows:

Iome (Playing Catch-Up): 33,219/10,000

crazydominodragongirl (The Skies of Sollaire): 50,180/30,000

hazelk (Untitled): 0/50,000 (never trust a hazy elk)

Razbluito (Untitled): 10,600/50,000 (I like to imagine this as a very lengthy and unnecessary apology letter that arrived two weeks into the month going well into the territory of “too much information” for why these two never showed.)

persnickett (Spellbound): 10,157/10,000

NebucaKirjailija (Fremdes, fernes Land): 33,163/25,000

Iovena (Wolfsregen): 80,768/30,000 (Oh, and there are hunters!)

YeniaAsakura (Mad Hatter): 21,017/20,000

derekgingrich (Grave Cinderborn): 36,043/30,000

BeesEight (Carnevale of Ash: A Dark Drama of Venetia): 93,058/90,000

StarFireControl (A Party of Thieves): 36,840/30,000

I think the biggest thing we took away from this challenge (outside of meeting really chatter strangers and that apparently Derek can bond with anyone over my suffering) is that meeting writing goals is a lot easier when you have someone to motivate you. It is kind of like getting into the habit of going to the gym. When you try to accomplish it by yourself, you face really difficult days where you lack motivation and are heavily tempted to skip and fall behind. But if you’ve made the commitment with other people, then you have a support group that will encourage you when you’re tired or disinterested. You can keep going through the achievements and progress of others. Also, it’s crazy the amount of work you can get done in a word sprit. Oh, and Derek totally got beat by a girl.

I would encourage anyone with an interest in writing to check out the nanowrimo challenges. Camp is far more approachable with its variable goal and dedicated little communes through the cabin system though there is something to be said for finishing the original challenge and its much higher goals. Either way, there is little that can match the satisfaction or catharsis of getting that damn story done. Especially for me since I invariably just murder all the obnoxious jerks I’ve had to travel with at the very end.

Until next year!

Cinderella

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Haha! It is not even the end of April and I am posting. On the downside I am procrastinating my novel writing … Don’t expect too much.

From the movie version.

I am a fan of fairy tales. I was brought up with the Disney retelling of the Grim Brother’s classics. Over the years I have read a number of iterations and have watched numerous movie versions. Recently I found myself watching the film adaptation of Ella Enchanted, which urged me to reread the source material. Then as luck would have it another book arrived at the library for me – another Cinderella-based story.

All three of these stories involve the same basic characteristic elements. They have a young girl whose mother dies when she is young and whose father is either mostly absent or dies. There is a stepmother who despises her stepdaughter and works to make her life miserable. There is a charming suitor of prestigious background and a grand ball somewhere towards the end. Magic is thick through all three of these Cinderella retellings, though each one is different.

While the movie Ella Enchanted starring Anne Hathaway, Hugh Dancy, and Cary Elwes (and others) is based on the novel by the same title they should be treated as two different works. Certainly, I could not stop the flood of ‘that was not in the book; that was not how things happened, and where did that come from?’ comments while watching. The movie version takes the idea of freedom and runs with it. Everything is changed to make freedom the driving theme. Suddenly, there is a wicked uncle who is enslaving portions of the population. Of course Ella is the primary example, for she is under a curse of obedience which has stripped her of her freedom since birth. While this is not a bad way of dealing with the transition, I do think it removes much of the elegance found in the book. The movie is garish in colour and humour. It is loud, oversized and extreme. But it is also fun. It has an interesting mix of modern music, ideals and dance numbers set in a more medieval setting (with some visual quirks like the moving stairc

The book cover.

ase – also not found in the book). The evil stepsisters are even more comically driven to woo the prince than they are in the book. I would say it is fun, but childish and certainly lacks any depth.

I infinitely prefer the book version by Gail Carson Levine. Though my recent rereading reminded me it was written for a much younger audience. It is not the plot, by the simplicity of the writing, aimed more for early rather than late teens. Still, I really like the struggle the cursed Cinderella faces over the course of the novel. Her we can see how she has always fought against the curse. It also better explains how the orders work. Ella is not magically good at everything. When ordered to sing she does so, but being untrained her voice is awful. However, after a series of increasingly more specific commands, she can be ordered to do what is required. The specificity of the commands is not dealt with at all in the movie. Which actually brings me to the other thing I liked about the book, there is an incident with ogres in which Ella clearly helps the Prince – rather than being saved by him as is seen in the film. Being a book the story spans a year or more, in which Ella is allowed to slowly fall in love with her prince. It shows them building a relationship, something that is difficult to do on film because of time constraints.

While both works could be described as dealing with Freedom they come across very different. The film is taking the most obvious route of oppressed and oppressor. The message being that no one should be ordered around and told what to do with their lives. The book is not so blatant. Here the author explores choice and responsibility in less obvious ways. Ella is still cursed and ordered around by those who know. However, the ogres are also capable of making unwary people do what they want. It is more manipulation of people and freedom on a very personal level being discussed in the book; the freedom to be yourself in expression and personality. It seems such a slim difference. However the manner in which these ideals are expressed produced two very different works.

Both of these works are targeting a younger audience with their Cinderella retellings. Glass slippers, another Disney element play only a nominal role in the novel version and are not present at all in the film.

The glass slippers take on a slightly different role in Wayfarer: A Tale of Beauty and Madness by Lili St. Crow. Here the stepmother’s job is to manufacture high-end footwear. While many of the Cinderella elements are present in this book, much was done to create a different and unique fantasy world. I would say the world building was successful – I also enjoyed the first book in this series dealing with Snow White. However, my age started to show through while reading Wayfarer. Ellie Sinder – Cinderella – was not the spunky girl from Ella Enchanted. She was ultimately depressed, convinced that no one would believe how terrible her stepmother was (at least no adult) and that her friends only stayed next to her through pity. Even while she professed these ideas, Ellie also admitted that her friends were really good to her. And really, so many of Ellie’s problems would have been solved if she just told someone she needed help. Instead she flopped between bleak desperation that no one cared and the noble need to sacrifice herself to protect her friends. It was tiresome. Especially, since you get to the end of the book and the adults are quite reasonable and ready to believe the stepmother was evil (she really was). So, while there were many good ideas brought forth in this world it was simply too much self-pity and needless whining for me to really enjoy the story.

Updates

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Well, that’s a bit of a lie. It’s not technical difficulties we’re experiencing just time management issues. I blame the supervisor.

To give a heads up, all three of us are in a rather tight crunch of time this month. Kait has her unending task of bringing the light of education to the world. I am in a sweep of editing, creating and photo setting. Derek just likes avoiding this site.

All three of us are also working on our separate novels for this month as well. I made earlier mention of finding some story I could post in the interim that would require no work from to put up. Alas, it seems I have exhausted my stockpile of content for these emergencies and, as such, have been unable to produce any content. This is post is mostly an apology as well as an update to inform you to not expect anything until April has concluded.

I am sorry. I am sure you will understand. In good news, by the end of the month I shall have my trilogy completed. So that is cause for celebration.

Derek, however, won’t even have single “act” of his done. He is the biggest slacker amongst us so we can’t truly be surprised. Anyway, tune in next month for our regular scheduled programming!

Pleroma Groups – Eschatii

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Have not been able to find an old story. Very busy this month. Take quick look at some Pleroma work to pass the day. Here’s another faction that I’m working on:

Access from http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/giotto/exorcism-of-the-demons-at-arezzo-1299

Exorcism of the Demons at Arezzo by Giotto (1297-1299)

Eschatii

Leader: Unknown (Possibly None)

The Eschatii are a vicious, diabolic and twisted lot. They are the daemons devoted to the flesh and blood. They reveal in their demonic heritage, seeing their power as a tool to be used and not hidden or shunned. Power is truth and those who hold power control existence. The Escatii do not shy away from practices because of societal taboos or restrictions. Nothing is sacred to them, no act is too depraved. Because of this inhibition, the Eschatii have developed a potent blood/flesh magic where they can tap into the power of life within themselves and others. Due to their relationship with blood, they can often be found within the most pervasive religions and cults, their presence often blurring the lines between worship and debauchery.

Paradigm:

Look at these creatures about you, these pathetic animals. So consumed in their ignorance, too blind to even regard their own weaknesses. They are foolish to not notice the wolves amongst their own flock. Never forget you are better than them: you are more than human. You are a nightmare, the very stuff that keeps their children awake at night. You are that indescribably horror their instinctive lower brains fear. For every chain there is predator and prey. Remorse is reserved for the wolves that would pull out their own teeth and swallow grass. You are more than then. Embrace your monstrosity. It is what separates you. It is what elevates you above all else.

Wisdom of the Fallen:

Eschatii are one of the few organizations that recognize the separation of the daemonkin from men. A daemonkin can not survive without feeding off his fellow humans. Without sustenance, a daemonkin would wither and die consumed by the very powers that grant them such terrific strength. The moment a person is afflicted represents an enormous metamorphosis. They have been chosen, whether through fickle fate or divine providence, to be removed from their fellow man. They are destined for greater things. They are no longer part of the mortal existence.

Whereas many daemonkin will attempt to remain attached to their former lives or try and minimize their impact on the human populace, the Eschatii revel in their transformation. They take the ideas of demonic possession and monstrosity to new heights. While most daemonkin organizations seek anonymity and shy away from deep interaction with humans, the Eschatii flourish amongst the chattel. They hide in plain sight, feeding brazenly in the open and using their powers for fear and intimidation. They are the primary image of a daemonkin in the eyes of the Hunters – horrific beings that leave death and destruction in their wake. They can not exist quietly within any community for eventually the taint of their presence will drive everyone around them mad.

Power of the Veins:

Eschatii often infiltrate communities, using their abilities to create small, tight-knit cabals of followers and worshipers. They pretend to be great magicians, ancient beings of unknown origin, blessed prophets, divine healers or even Gods descended from the Celestial. They promise the secrets of their powers to all those that are faithful. So persuasive are the Eschatii that even established organizations are often easily infiltrated and manipulated by them. If the Initiative revisionist history is to be believed, Eschatii are the cause of the Inquisition – corrupting churches to their own worship and whipping their parishes into frenzied masses whose only thoughts are of debauchery and blood.

For it is blood that the Eschatii truly prize. To them, the very essence of a person is the blood in their veins. This circulates the essentially energies throughout the entire body. It is what sustains a person’s physical body. It is their most prized nourishment and Eschatii are known for bathing, drinking and manipulating the blood of their followers. So consumed are they, that some Eschatii draw horrific power from the very consumption of human flesh. AID agents who have investigated the wake of an Eschatii infestation have documented residual energies as powerful as that which they transmit but from apparently originating from the corpses left behind. While most considered this blood magic, the manner and manipulation of the Eschatii is beyond anything anyone has ever performed.

Witnesses report the Eschatii follow very ritualistic behaviours before and during their use of their terrible powers. Some suspect that these rituals are what separate the powers of the Eschatii from traditional magicks. Others argue that the Eschatii actually contact beings beyond the Celestial, existing in a darker space wholly alien to the cycle of death and rebirth. They argue these dark masters grant the Eschatii their terrible abilities. The truth may never be known, for those touched by the Eschatii rarely survive, and if they do they are never the same. Their minds are forever twisted by the depraved wisdom of the demons.

Workers of the Last:

The Eschatii seemed focused solely on destruction and carnage. Unlike the Mawnists, Eschatii rarely claim any unifying higher motives. Some will be obsessed with the End of Days, Final Judgement, Dissolution or a general Apocalypse. They might see themselves as the agents to bring about the final hours of the world. Others just appear to revel in the mayhem and madness. There is very little commonality between Eschatii members. As a result, these daemonkin often exist alone or in small groups. It seems their very consuming nature naturally drives each apart for fear of destroying themselves.

And it could very well be that none of the Eschatii truly have any unifying philosophy beyond their destruction. They may just tap into the natural fascination that organized cults and religions have for the final days, and draw on these vivid images in order to ingratiate themselves amongst their victims. Their unending drive to feed and destroy naturally isolates them from other daemonkin who would never appreciate the attention the Eschatii draw. They are one of few forces that can temporary unite the Circle with their enemies as everyone attempts to locate and eliminate this threat.

Course, the Eschatii’s reputation for consuming daemonkin is another source of concern. The Eschatii rank as one of the greatest dangers, along with the angels and the Institute. Unlike the others, however, the Eschatii will often lure their victims to their own demise, promising to help them survive or to unlock even greater power within the new daemonkin. It is through their manipulation that many horror stories abound of entire Havens being destroyed through welcoming an Eschatii into their fold. The foolish daemonkin who instigated this massacre is never heard or seen again. Survivors can only imagine the terrible fate held for those foolish enough to trust these demons.

Feasts of Fear and Blood:

Though terrible and merciless, the Eschatii often exhibit telltale signs of their presence. Like a parasite, there is a curious correlation between Eschatii feeding and the Flock of the Host. Like an animal learning to adapt to its environment, the Eschatii have learned some tricks for surviving in a world that generally seeks their eradication.

The most insidious method involves the co-operation of two or more of the members. This is usually initiated by a powerful Eschatii daemonkin well versed in their potent type of power. This individual will often infiltrate himself amongst the clergy of a local religious institution. There, he will preach of debauchery and the decline of society, spinning a rhetoric of the End of Days all too readily embraced by the congregation. To supplement his sermons, he will direct his co-conspirators to feast brazenly in the streets.

The horror of the butchery and debased feeding of his peers often drive many more to the congregation. The Eschatii promises protection and succor for those who come under their protection as the world seemingly grows darker and bleaker outside. Over time, through ritual and indoctrination in the trappings of the faith too often already focused upon blood and ritual, the Eschatii bends his congregation into worshiping him as a cult image.

Normally, such disruption would draw the attention of the Host when done on their own Flock. However, the Eschatii does not steal all their worship but continues to encourage some belief in the Host. Furthermore, because the fear the Eschatii cohorts build and feed upon often drive more to the congregation, the Host does not detect the infestation and only notices the increase in worship.

Typically, these arrangements draw the attention of Hunters or other organizations seeking the destruction of disruptive daemonkin. Often they will hunt down the murderous Eschatii, ignorant of the elder in the congregation growing gluttonous off his followers. When last the congregation is ready to abandon their faith and worship the Eschatii without abandon, their leader will perform his final ritual. In one last gory orgy of blood and cannibalism, the Eschatii directs the Flock to turn upon themselves and drinks deep of their remains. Then he leaves with the surviving members of his co-conspirators to find a new hunting ground to begin the cycle anew.

Outside of the horrific violence and terror this develops, it has a tendency to draw the attention of the Host who arrive at the destruction of their Flock too late to find the Eschatii and instead turn to the local Havens, who they likely believe to be the culprits, and destroy them. However, because so few are willing to monitor or interfere with the Host’s Flocks, it is difficult for local Havens to protect themselves and identify the offending daemonkin before they become entrenched in their target congregations. Due to the effectiveness of enthralling their followers, confronting an established Eschatii elder often leads to conflict with the congregation and should they be killed, the attention of the Host is drawn regardless.

Consequently, sometimes if the signs of an infected Flock are noticed early, nearby Havens will close down and seek distant refuge until the Eschatii are either destroyed by another party or leave and the Host have abandoned their late investigation.

Such Anger Much Vitriol

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Today’s rant is going to be a special one. It’s a comment on Internet culture – as useful a topic as any to complain about for it will be as effective as shouting into a hurricane. But I am annoyed, dear reader, and what better place to post my annoyance but on this personal little chunk of cyberspace reserved just for my aggravation.

Accessed from knowyourmeme.com. The only positive quality of memes is the impossibility of copyrighting them.

I don’t know if this is the actual origin of the Doge meme though it’s certainly the most copied image of the damn dog.

For those between the ages of “dead” and “not old enough to be consumed with raising children” (which is could be shorted to between ‘dead’ and ‘dead’) you may have heard of the Doge meme. Perhaps this delightful bit of highbrow online couture has consciously slipped by your notice and if you are like Derek and I, without a finger on the staggered, sickly pulse of what passes for the world’s collective attention deficit users, then your introduction to Doge was likely through some obnoxious parroting by an unnamed party. ‘Such wow’ they blithely stammer as if the first signs of severe damage to Broca’s area was manifesting. ‘So edge’ flies across their mind in some self congratulatory half mockery of the mentally disabled.

For most people unfamiliar with the origins of this… activity, they will probably dismiss these utterances as some peculiar form of verbal Parkinson’s. It’s like the mind is rapidly hemorrhaging half composed thoughts into the thought-sphere of the wider world. Alas, the unfortunate truth is that people say this with sincerity and intention. They are referencing the Doge Meme. And it is such a stupid practice that it annoys me to no end.

Now, that may be an unfortunate confession to make, as a great driving force in the development of Internet culture is the cultivation of ‘trolling.’ This activity is devoted specifically to making the practitioner as obnoxious as possible. It’s how things like Rick-rolling have become a thing. However, what truly aggravates me about Doge is that it is not designed to be annoying – it is the ubiquitous blind replication of it that crawls beneath my skin. Every time I get a steam message from someone going “Such wow, many whatevers,” God kills a kitten. I know this is true, because I keep a box of the cute little creatures and squeeze the life from them as if they were a fuzzy, mewling stress ball.

There are two things that I hate about Doge. One is that it is stupid. It was never funny. Originating as some lame internal monologue tumblr captions overlaid pictures of Shiba Inu, I would consider it racist towards Japanese if I gave two shakes of a rat’s tail about tumblr activism. I don’t so the cheap joke at the broken English of Asian speakers doesn’t rile me up. The lazy joke itself is the problem. It’s not funny. It never was funny and mostly exists as part of that weird cultish worship of cute things that also predominates the Internet.

Second, the meme’s spread is so mindless as to be a virus. It shows up everywhere. Unlike Rick-rolling, perhaps its closest analogous entity, it isn’t meant to inconvenience or ‘troll’ the audience. It is a lazy reference to an obscure captioned image. It’s the white noise of someone’s verbal diarrhea as they make a brainless flatulence of popular culture as if the very act of reproducing the tripe is somehow forcing some ounce of wit into its lifeless husk. I’m tired of commentators spewing out in my Dota matches as if their mimicry were evidence of how ‘hip’ and ‘up to date’ they are. Which is an ironic goal since the damn meme has been flopping around for months – a staggering time for anything birth on the Internet – too pathetic to be truly prominent and too miserable to finally die and be forgotten.

What’s worse, unlike other memes were learning its origins can often add some quantifiable ounce of amusement from ‘being in on the joke,’ the Doge is too lame to even get better with the knowledge of what it’s truly about.

Maybe one day I’ll do a proper rant against/for actual memes in general. Suffice to say, the Doge meme is representative of all that’s wrong and apprehensible about those things. It’s sole existence is through the thoughtless japing of its existence as if blind adherence to what everyone else is doing will somehow grant its user some measure of popularity. It doesn’t. All it does is make you sound like an idiot.

Moth and Spark – Book Review

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In my dutiful attempt to chronicle the books I actually finish reading I present to the readers of this blog another hum-drum title: Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard.

While searching for fantasy book suggestions I stumbled across a list that was supposed to include: good, new, adult fantasy titles that are not the common big names (things like a Game of Thrones, etc).

The tagline held promise: A Prince with a Quest. A Commoner with Mysterious Powers. And Dragons who Demand to be Free – at any Cost.

The jacket cover than goes on to introduce the two leads, Prince Corin, just returning from the North with strange tidings for his father, the King and apprehension about the Summer court and his mother’s intensions to marry him off. Tam is joining her sister-in-law at court. She is cuirous to see what it is like, though disdainful of the flighty chatter of insipid airheads (not quite the words used in the synopsis, but close enough).

“Chance leads Tam and Corin to a meeting in the library, and he impulsively asks her to join him for dinner… Tam is surprised by how easy it is to talk to Corin, and Corin thinks to himself that Tam is the first person to genuinely see him as a man rather than The Prince.”

Well, this section holds promise. Obviously, we are expecting a romance. However, from the last line I am looking forward to a developed romance based on wit and conversation. Things are looking good.

The jacket cover continues to explain that the Dragon’s want Corin to free them from bondage and Tam will discover she is a Seer. Good, good, we have dragons, a romance based on strong personalities, a threat of war, and a bit of magic in the form of a Seer. Things are looking up. And in fact I enjoyed the opening. The prologue spoke of vague, unsettled powers starting to waken and dangerous things to come.

The first couple of chapters were solid in their introductions of the key players. Everything was looking up. Until things stagnated. Until my romance was utterly crushed. Until the ending resolved itself in the most contrived and poorly explained matter that destroyed my enjoyment for this stand-alone novel.

First, the political intrigue initiated at the beginning was solid. But it didn’t develop into anything. What was the importance of the death at the start if it was not to play a roll later in the work? Why kill that character and why do the murder with a very illegal and dangerous substance if you are not going to use that for character development?

Second, the romance sucked. Granted part of that was based on my expectations of strong, witty dialogue. However, even without my preconceived notions I would have been disappointed as the attraction between the characters was physical. She was sooo pretty he just wanted to bed her right then and there. He was sooo handsome that she wanted him as a lover even if that ruined her chances of marriage at some later date. Bleh. Their conversation, when they got past staring longingly into each other’s eyes was flat and boring. It was so restrained as to say nothing. The teasing was so mild I would not have noticed it if the author hadn’t drawn obvious attention to those lines. While she tried to set up conflict within the romance: Corin was a Crown Prince and Tam was a commoner, she undermined it at every opportunity. Tam was from a wealthy, respectable family, who had married into the edges of nobility. Worse, the King and rest of the Royal family instantly liked Tam the moment they met. And unfortunately Tam turned out to be so beautiful that she attracted the attention of everyone at court – all the men wanted her. Which was tedious.

Then there was the magic, it was undefined and supposedly relegated to myth and legend. Certainly, the fact that wizards existed was kept secret. I don’t have a problem with this. I do have issue with the manner in which the King miraculously seemed to know about all the magical happenings around him. He was not fazed to discover his son had been recruited by the dragons. He was the only one who recognized that Tam was a Seer – something she didn’t know anything about. To top it all off magic did stuff without ever being properly defined. The cutting away of reality just meant that it could do anything whenever it was needed. Sigh.

While I liked the animal characteristics of the Dragons their plot line was stupid. They were stolen from their Valley by the Emperor who used them to solidify power and claim more lands. How was this accomplished? A Wizard did it! Really, somehow (though it is not properly explained), the wizards managed to steal the Fire from the Dragons. And how does one correct the problem? Well apparently, the Prince had to enter a crevice and die. Only then the Emperor came, he fought the Prince, nearly died and Tam told a story and ta-da the dragons were free. Confused? I know I am. How did any of those actions return Fire to the Dragons? Hard to say. Why did the Emperor have to live? Apparently because he drank dragon blood which meant that the dragons could only be freed while he lived. Why? Reasons, I suppose. It never was clearly communicated in any manner.

The first two thirds of the book was spent setting up conflict and introducing problems: Dragons want Corin to Free them; the Emperor is plotting against our heroic vassal Kingdom; another evil threat is sweeping its way in from the East (with a torturous and twisted leader); there are bandits in the country and war on the horizon and political unrest at the court (only I was never entirely certain what the court nobles were trying to do as their goals became mudded in the confusion). The last third was a rush of trying to tie up all these loose ends. We spent a little time experience war. A little time talking with Dragons. A little time talking with the mysterious Wizards. A very little time being introduced to and then killing the mean Emperor. And someone else went off to kill the Evil Guy from the East – cause really we were running out of time. Still, we did manage to spend more time with the leads as they kissed, touched and proclaimed their love for each other – oh and they had some weird, prophetic dreams and freed their people at the last moment.

The good thing about this book – it is a standalone. The bad thing about this book is the plot progression, the undefined use of magic, the illogical trapping and freeing of the dragons, the random war, the random evil killing of the minor noble, the bland main characters, the king that knows everything for unexplained reasons, the rushed ending …

In short, it could have been better. Though, in all fairness it could have been much worse too.

The Story Thus Far

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Just a quick update about my life.

The Nine Day Queen demonstrating why most of us have never heard of her. Picture accessed from wikipedia.

Execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche (1833).

For those who don’t know, I’ve been making a habit of April being my insane “write an entire novel in a month” adventure. Mostly because I love tormenting myself ever since I lost access to pets to inflict suffering upon. As such, I have a number of projects due at the end of this month as well as all the prep work required for the writing blitz beginning in a week.

What does all this mean?

I’m not posting today. I’m sorry.

Hopefully, I can find some writing to put up for April because I’m not going to have the time to indepth rants then either.

True Detective – False Mystery: A Review

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I did like the opening credits and thought it interesting the overlap of location on character to blur the line between the two.

From True Detective’s title crawl. Series aired on HBO and belongs to whoever.

Expectation is a curious thing. It can be both a source of great elation and anticipation and the harbinger of infuriation and loathing. Quite often it carries both in turn, drawing its victim joyfully in with its double strike of promise and praise before delivering its brutal reality that leaves naught but a wreck of broken visions in its wake. Not that all things with great expectations are terrible. Sometimes our expectations are met and we leave pleasant and fulfilled. Sometimes they are exceeded and we talk and dwell gleefully upon the experience with renewed vigour.

After nearly twenty nine years of existence, I have come to realize that expectation is not worth its price. The higher your anticipation for the payout, the less enjoyment you will collect. But keep your expectations low and you should be surprised more often than not.

Today’s review of True Detective isn’t about failed expectations. Instead, it’s that more trouble quandary. It’s misaligned expectations. I had heard about True Detective from multiple sources that all praised it for being high quality television. Had that been all I’d known, I may have sought it out but given how difficult it is for acquiring access to HBO shows, I may have let it slip by. There are, after all, many series which I intend to watch based on the praise they receive. They are the Breaking Bads and Parks and Recreations. They’re on my list to check out not because the initial premise is promising to me but because so much good word of mouth has surrounded them that it seems they are almost like the Titanic; they are too big too fail – or at least disappoint as would be the case here.

True Detective, however, came with an addendum. It was, according to one source who shall remain nameless for his own protection, a good show with Lovecraftian elements. I have been enjoying the Cthulu Mythos over the last few months. I particularly find most tales good travel literature for their morsel like size. However, I have been reading Lovecraft on and off for years now. While my feelings towards the enormous body of work encapsulating the Cthulu Mythos is mixed, I do enjoy the monument of literature as a whole. It’s an intriguing look at fiction writing in a specific time period. It is a culture artifact dug up for our enjoyment. Though its old time society and issues leave it from being truly horrific, those same elements make it engrossing.

Thus, I was curious how a modern take could incorporate the ideals of Lovecraftian horror. I did write that post many months back detailing the issue with Lovecraft and the modern era. I boldly pronounced that type of horror dead, though I hold no great convictions on the diagnosis. So, a critically acclaimed detective show with Lovecraft horror? Well, sign me up!

If that extended introduction didn’t make things clear enough, True Detectives was not to my tastes. I suppose I am partly to blame for having my vision of what the work would be. I didn’t do much research before diving in, hoping to avoid any spoilers beyond what I heard from acquaintances and friends. Perhaps if I had done some early investigation, I could have spared myself the disappointment and the time.

But then I wouldn’t have this post to make.

Of course, as True Detective gloriously made a point of itself, the biggest clues were right under my nose the entire time. The mini-series is an HBO show. There’s a certain… reputation that the station carries. I had not seen many of its original content before and had been living quite happily in my ignorance. In a sense, True Detective is a great crash course to the expectations of the programming executives. It has certainly made clear to me that I would not like their vision of what television is or should be. I shall politely avoid their True Blood and Game of Thrones. Though peering at their wikipedia page, I did like the Newsroom though I don’t think it’s nearly as revolutionary as the rest of my family may believe. Course, it seems the Newsroom is only getting three seasons so maybe it’s the black sheep of the bunch.

At any rate, one thing is clear and that is HBO has a quota. I would feel remiss if I didn’t contribute to their quota during a review of one of their celebrated shows.

Accessed from http://seemorepictures.blogspot.ca/2012/11/the-blue-footed-boobie.html. Not my photo. I don't have much interests in Boobies.

Of all the lessons I’ve learned from watching True Detectives, the most important is that as an entertainer I must show frequently a pair of boobs else I’m apt to lose the attention of my audience. So here’s my first pair.

I have spent a number of hours in reluctant debate with my co-contributors over the series. For those that don’t want to slog through the next couple thousand of words or so, here’s the short of it. I don’t like True Detective. Specifically, I think it is a bad show. This may make me a hipster or just a chronic hater-of-all-things but that is my feelings on the matter.

Course, being who I am, I won’t just slap my opinion and walk away. I will provide some room for discussion. Truthfully, there are some things the show does well. I think Matthew McConaughey has both an impossible name to spell and a very consistent and powerful performance. Woody Harrelson, on the other hand, took a few episodes to get into the swing of his role but by the end I felt he had reached a stable level of performance even if it wasn’t on the same level. I wouldn’t say it was terrible, though, and I can see why he’d get praise for it too.

The cinematography of the series is also particularly well done. At least, I think it is. I’m not a film critic so I don’t know the proper terminology. However, the use of the Louisiana landscape gave the production a very haunting touch. More often than not, the actual vistas and shots conveyed that slow building of discomfort far better than the story itself. There is something domineering about those factory skylines that seem to press down on the viewer as their concrete towers rise over flooded plains blotting out all else from sight. Perhaps the most eerie moment is the slow drive to a half burnt church in the middle of nothing with only a thin line of wispy trees to half-heartily try and cover the ruin and keep the rest of the world protected. Every now and then the show flirted with the cosmological horror so captivating to Lovecraft and his peers. But it’s a fleeting relationship, and one more often carried strictly by the strength of the show’s visuals than anything.

Which brings me to what is bad about the show.

The writing is awful. Do not believe what people say, the show is poorly written. When I first began watching, I was lulled into a gentle state of repose by its marble gargling characters. The dialogue, for the most part, is fine barring for the fact that the actors have a tendency to grind on their lines in their hasty attempt to sound gruff with their affected southern accents. Mostly, I found I had to crank the volume if I wanted any chance to hear half of whatever was being said. The mumbling was so bad, one of my friends recommended I watch with subtitles like he did. The actual written lines are fine even if the characters have tendency for slipping into melodrama in their attempt to wallow in the self-pity of whatever emotional decadence the show was trying to indulge.

McConaughey’s character, in particular, was prone to long bouts of almost eye-rolling pseudo-philosophy about nihilism and the emptiness of existence. Once again, I felt maybe this was the show attempting to cleverly pull on the psyche breaking horror of one’s insignificance beneath the vastness of Lovecraftian revelations and how bewilderingly unknowable the universe is. Perhaps we would get the slow explanation for a mind that snapped beneath unearthly realizations through the slow interview format established in the first couple of episodes hoping to ascertain McConaughey’s character by the current investigating detectives (as if there needs to be a warning: spoilers are going to abound in this review though most of this is pretty evident early on). Alas, this is not the case and it seems McConaughey mostly just waxes about whatever nihilist mantra the writers happened upon that day of writing as even his philosophical outlook hardly maintained consistency. He bemoans the meaningless of existence in one scene, only to persuade Harrelson in another that he’s indebted to action by some vague sense of duty, honour or human decency which flies in the face of nihilistic pretensions.

Accessed from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sula_sula_by_Gregg_Yan_01.jpg

Red footed booby by Gregg Yan.

More than anything, True Detectives has no plot. Its “story” could be summed up in the span of a thirty minute episode. Instead, the crux of the show focuses on the petty life of Woody Harrelson as he flits from affair to affair while trying in vain to be a good father to his rapidly distancing family. This is interspersed with the repetitive personal conflicts between him and McConaughey who are diametrically opposed personality wise that it leaves you wondering why their chief insisted on them being partners for ten years despite their constant bickering and arguing.

My first concerns with how poorly the show was structured arose in the very first episode. Our introduction to the two detectives is with them driving up to the scene of the crime – a young woman tied naked before a tree as if in prayer and adorned with deer horns surrounded by a bunch of ritualistic animalism stick structures that are never even attempted to be explained in the series. It smacks of such lazy “this is weird cult shit” by not even being remotely close to the source material they’re referencing by looking suitably Wiccan enough for the average viewer to associate it with paganism and – by obfuscating intent – satanism. I doubt, given the show’s rather grim view of Christianity, that there is any malicious intent in portraying modern (or even historic) Wiccan beliefs or practices with satanism and I’m left wondering why they didn’t try dressing the cult artifacts in a more unique or, dare I say, Lovecraftian fashion. Instead, we have some shitty stick bird cages meant to inspire dread but mostly appearing as some poor child’s craft project. Anyway, these first scenes are abruptly interrupted with Harrelson’s constant reminder to the modern investigators (and the audience) that he wasn’t particularly close or knowledgeable about his partner even though he repeatedly informs us that they had been working together for three months.

I was never able to figure out the significance of this three month period. Harrelson is portrayed as a sociable, charismatic man and given the way he kept trying to communicate with McConaughey it is bizarre that the two seemingly went three months without him ever even attempting small talk and then randomly that day he begins to learn more about the foreign Texan. As it turns out, McConaughey doesn’t share Harrelson’s Christian values, which leaves them quarreling for most the first episode over philosophical nihilism before Harrelson’s insistence his partner come to dinner to meet his family and wife.

To simply summarize those two long paragraphs, I don’t know why the show didn’t just have McConaughey new to the Louisiana division and it was… say… his second week on the job. Maybe they were trying to avoid some sort of cliche but they ended up instead with some even more bizarre scenario that was awkwardly brought to the audience’s attention by Harrelson’s own constant stammering. This trend – of making the structure of the story unnecessarily complicated – continued for the entire series. I still don’t know why they even bothered with the two modern investigators questioning McConaughey and Harrelson over their case. It was clear a couple of episodes in that they suspected McConaughey of being the serial killer, but the audience knew without a doubt he couldn’t have been it as the flashbacks to the scenes when both lead actors were police officers was an accurate portrayal of events and not what they were communicating in their interviews. So in the latter portion of the series, they spring their intentions as if this is suppose to be some sort of plot twist meant to leave the audience second guessing the reliability of McConaughey’s character.

Accessed from http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/blue-footed-booby/

Blue footed booby by Tim Laman from National Geographic.

However, we had already seen that pretty much the only reason the show extended past the fourth episode was because Woody Harrelson is an awful person with zero self-control. The show completely abandons the interview format in the final act of the story and I was left wondering what the entire point of it was as the investigating officers are pushed completely to the sideline. McConaughey returns in the present to recruit Harrelson and after the shortest amount of detective work they discover the true serial killer and tie up the plot in a remarkably unsatisfactory fashion that neither dealt with any of the King in Yellow teases they had dropped once an episode or even the overarching character flaws that we had spent the entire time entertaining.

And this is why I say True Detective is a bad show. I was happy to proclaim it as “fine and not for me” after the third episode, but really despite their handling of the characters there was just too much inconsistency and complete bungling of the plot for the writing to not be considered bad. Just like this review, the biggest issue with the series is that I can’t shake the feeling it was just an enormous waste of time. So much of each episode is devoted to Harrelson’s crying over his affairs and the personal drama between him and McConaughey that it just felt like the writers didn’t know what they wanted to do. It was eight hours of spinning wheels with the odd “oh right, we have some sort of plot here about government cover-ups and cult worship!” But none of that panned out. Even in the end, the main characters’ flaws are never addressed. Harrelson ends up divorced but his ex-wife shows up by his hospital bed with a smile and warm hand squeeze despite the character not once showing any change in his ability to control his urges for over indulgence in women or drink. I suppose after nearly dying before some hallucination of some vaguely alien blackhole in the depths of a cyclopean sunken city inexplicably found in the killer’s backyard but politely ignored by the entire cast of characters, McConaughey cries a little about the loss of his daughter.

And don’t get me even started on how illogical Harrelson’s wife’s affair was. Nor how horribly presented almost every single side character is. And what the hell was up with that subplot about the daughter that was just hand waved away with a short comment in the present about her “now on her drugs?”

Verdammt! Just thinking about it reminds me more of its nonsense. This is why everyone ends up an alcoholic, HBO! You are the cosmological horror whose very image inspires madness and insanity!

Accessed from http://www.mattdebenham.com/blog/proving-the-negative-true-detective-and-remembering-when-this-is-not-my-thing/

From the title crawl. I found this on a website also calling True Detective shit. So much about me being the black sheep!

What is Good Writing?

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As with most discussions this didn’t just come out of nowhere. It started with a comment my brother made, which I have mostly forgotten (I have no memory for details). Ultimately he was mocking me for thinking the first part of Name Of the Wind was good, and thus I had not sense of good writing.

Naturally, I was offended. I like to think that I can recognize good writing from bad writing. Which brought me to today’s question: What is Good Writing?

A scribe at work.

To answer the question I started by considering the various aspects of writing: plot, character depth and progression, setting and world building, language and dialogue, description, grammar, flow of prose, voice, style, etc. I tried to tease apart the various components of writing as I would break down the elements making up a film (director, writer, actor, cinematographer, etc). With my list of components making up writing I tried to strip away the least important elements. I argued with myself that plot was not as important – a good book could follow a familiar plot and still be interesting because of good writing. However a bad book could have a new and exciting plot and still be terrible to read because of poor writing. Thus, plot was not necessarily part of the intangible writing.

I tried to remove characters under similar arguments. I am drawn to classic archetypes. But then I thought of books that included those familiar archetypes but failed to properly develop the characters. These flat, boring imitations were bad writing. So perhaps I character depth and development was critical to good writing.

How else could I form a base definition of good writing?

I decided to look at books that exemplified good writing and bad writing (for contrast). Examples of bad writing were far easier to remember. First on the list: Name of the Wind which had started this whole problem. At the time, I was intrigued by the opening pages. I read with a curiosity. Then the pages started to elapse and I continued to wonder when the story was really going to start. From my perspective I was reading a very long (and often ridiculous) character introduction. I never got to the end to see if anything came of the opening which held promise for me. As for the bad writing, what caught my eye was the author’s failed attempt to play up classic tropes. The killing of the family (too clichéd for words), the sojourn in the city to show how the child was first bullied and then became stronger and I quit by the time the lead reached university (it was Harry Potter all over – only worse). For me the bad writing was in the character and plot development.

I am not good at reading details in books – mostly I skim read. While this allows me to eat through a story in an afternoon, it does mean I will miss the little details. I was blind to the black on black on black description that proliferate the start of Name of the Wind. I also missed the compulsive bottle polishing performed by the main character. A shame as these two examples are comical for all the wrong reasons. However, this is also an example of terrible writing; world inconsistency and illogic of action (and boring detail).

Now what about an example of good writing?

All the Book covers – the first books are way better than the later ones.

For various reasons my mind drifted to my bookshelf and the Harry Potter collection I have there. First, Harry Potter is not brilliant writing. That said, I thought of books 1&3 which I hold as the very best of the series. Are they good writing? Well, they have engaging characters, tightly written plots and an engrossing world. They had that intangible feel, the spark in the writing that I notice in the books that I really like. In contrast the latter half the series is undeniably terrible. It is a combination of things: a plot that is recycled throughout all seven books, a world that becomes internally inconsistent, a villain without motivations (moustache twirling is not a real motivation), and a main character so obnoxiously whiny I really wanted to punch him in the face. They were also bloated, rambling and poorly written. It was more than just bad plots and undeveloped characters. There was something in the stringing of the words and sentences together that was rough, poorly edited, primitive – ultimately bad. It is an interesting series in that I feel you can see deterioration of the actual writing over the seven books.

For an undisputed example of good writing I had fall further back to one of the classics: Pride and Prejudice. It is well written, with compelling characters and a tightly organized plot. There is definite character development. There is functioning world that does not contradict itself. And most importantly it is fun to read. It is good writing.

But was I any closer to defining good writing?

Meh book.

Well, I tried to apply my thoughts and examples to a book I was reading: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. Reading the first few pages led me to think this was not an example of bad writing. There were characters with goals and flaws. There was semblance of a plot. However, the style was such that each character of future importance came with their own backstory. It was a trifle cumbersome to read. You would be following the goings-on of the Jinni when he came in contact with another character (on in at least one instance, he came in contact with a tertiary character that then interacted with a secondary character). The introduction of the secondary character was followed by a two page synopsis of that individuals history: he was born in … went to school… married, had a family and was happy until the day when… and that is why he ended up in New York. It was consciously done and thus I attributed it to the style of the book. However, I cannot say it was a good style. I slogged through some 200 pages or so before the two main characters met. I then continued to plod forward until eventually I became bored with the pace and skipped to the last chapter.

What can I take away from this experience? Was it an example of bad writing or an incompatibility between author and reader?

I know that some books, sometimes terribly written books, can be engrossing. I pick them up and charge headlong to the finish without putting them down. Others I savour and all too many books I lose interest in and leave unfished. Personality and taste play a huge part in how a reader reacts to a book. The same can be said for art. I don’t like all art. However, while I may not like a painting, I can appreciate whether it is good or bad. There are qualities that distinguish a child’s crayon drawing of their horse … I mean dog, from those of a master artist. The viewer may prefer the crayon drawing but that doesn’t make it good. So I feel the same can be said with writing.

There has to be some defining characteristics that make the writing of some books good and the writing of other books poor irrespective of who much an individual enjoys the story. Only, after all this thinking I am still not certain exactly how to define those characteristics. It is a combination of plot, character and style that weave together to produce strong writing. A flaw in one of those threads weakens the entire work. And damage to more than one aspect will produce a piece of heavily flawed material, weak to all who read it.

Man Writing a Letter ~ 1665 This is not me – I typically use a computer and I am not a man.

*PS – I would really love to talk to someone who actually liked Rothfus’ Name of the Wind and can defend it as good writing. I am honestly interested to know what you enjoyed about this piece.

Pleroma Then and Now

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Well, I’ve been pressed into watching True Detective by an acquaintance of mine. I had heard good things about it. Specifically, I had heard about it and that it was good. Course, there were few details beyond that except for the intriguing indication that it dealt with Lovecraftian horror. I do love me some Lovecraft even if I don’t think a lot of his work is all that great. Plus, Lovecraft was racist – possibly misogynistic as well.

I’m not finished the series yet which is, mercifully, only eight episodes long. Perhaps I can have it done and a write-up on Friday. Mostly, I just wanted to state what today wasn’t going to be about. This is not a post about True Detective so if you’re looking for a review you’ll just have to sit in anticipation. Course, if you’ve watched True Detective then you’re probably used to waiting in anticipation.

Fukin Raijin by Tawaraya Sotatsu (17th Century).

Instead, I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to discuss some more Plemora. Pleroma. I have no idea what we’re calling it now or whether Derek’s cured his dyslexia. I’ve taken to referring to the project as Plemora even though “Plemora” itself doesn’t turn up in any of the work. Confused? Well, let’s see if we can’t keep it that way.

I thought I would give a brief glimpse into the creative process. The world for plemora was conceived years and years ago. I’ve probably been expanding and rewriting the lore as many times as Derek’s been changing the mechanical ruleset. Unfortunately for him, he sees about as much lore as I see rules which is to say none at all. So I’m going to include some of my work and the direction I’ve been transitioning with the world.

First, however, a run down on what the Hel “Plemora” even is. I’m assuming few readers are brushed up on the Gnosticism, so the quick and dirt is this: Plemora is the grimdark role-playing world that supposes the existence of demons. However, unlike Judeo-Christian entities, these are closer to the Gnostic/Ancient Philosophical daemons. Not necessarily malignant, not necessarily helpful, these creatures descend from a higher plane of existence to interact with us lowly humans. The world examined the impact that fractions of these entities would have if they infused themselves within the bodies of suspecting (or otherwise) humans. The trials, for the character, would be understanding what has occurred to them followed by adjusting to life while being host to an otherworldly parasite that granted supernatural powers.

Course, this isn’t the germ of an idea that began the whole process, but I’ll save that little story for another time. What I want to do today is cover the evolution of one of the major factions in the game system. Since the goal was to set the game world in our own with an overlay of the supernatural, much of the inspiration and ideas for the different peoples and groups which populate it come from our own societal developments. Give the supernatural, faith and religious overtones of the world, it seems only natural that one of the most rewritten groups is none other than The Host. These beings are better recognized by their common name amongst daemonkin: Angels.

First, let’s start off with the Angel faction as I first mentioned them so many months ago. This was back with the Noble Truths discussion and was meant to represent a specific philosophical outlook. In that incarnation, the Angels were described as thus:

The Noble Truths

Angel – Worship. Angel philosophy stresses a strong hierarchy with clearly defined roles. They also believe in Gods and are almost the Enlightened transition of typical religious individuals. Angel philosophy contains a trickle down effect. Angels worship a higher entity which in turn grants blessings and powers to the lower followers. Beginning Angels, or Initiates are thus, often extremely numerous and extremely powerless. These would be represented by the in numerous masses of people shuffling into churches, mosques, temples etc… However, due to the interconnected belief flow, when one finally classifies as an ‘Angel’, that individual is typically far stronger than any other Enlightened at that level of growth. Due to the nature of Angels, their society is fractured. Thus there are the Judeo-Christian-Islamic Angel group, but there would also be the Hindu Deva group, the Shamanistic Totem group etc…

Accessed from http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/mikalojus-ciurlionis/angel-angel-prelude-1909.

Angel (Angel Prelude) by Mikalojus Ciurlionus (1909).

Here we can see the development of a very specific idea. The Angels follow a top-down hierarchy which places great emphasis on those in the limited higher echelons than those on the bottom. It details how the Angels interact with the common world (through worship) as well as briefly touching on an overall philosophical outlook. Of important note was the idea that, though called Angels, in practice they wouldn’t have to be restricted to Christian views. The goal was to create a flexible system even in the earliest incarnation.

The Noble Truths was followed up by the idea that they would be a type of daemonkin so as to ease the amount of stress on the mechanical system. While I knew early on I would like to have a bunch of different types of play that could be enjoyed in this world, I wanted to make sure we had a strong base for the daemonkin idea to launch. Thus, Angels were shaping up to be powerful protagonists but needed to be realized in the mechanical framework Derek was initially developing.

These Angels I termed as the Bloodline Angels.

Bloodline Angels

Angels (Sanctus Templum) – I need a new name for them so it isn’t so obvious (e.g. Malachi, Ahuras, Elohim, Adonai, Malach, Malach Adonai) The Archangels and the older ones (who steal names from the bible) will generally have a very beautiful (or feminine, fragile, fine featured) appearance. These are the individuals who occupy the upper monotheistic religions. They believe in the One who created them to watch over humanity and shepherd them. Their beliefs and energetic functioning are slightly different than other daemons. They believe that God had created them, transforming them from the frail and flawed human form to that of perfection in the One’s own image. They receive their energy from the One who sustains them and replenishes them. They have created a distorted energy flow in their beliefs. Because of their connection to the monotheistic deities, they have created a system were an enormous amount of energy is directed to one individual which is then filtered down to those in descending hierarchical importance. Thus, the Archangels receive the most amount of energy, followed by the angels, powers and so on. However, God isn’t the top of the power tier but Metatron (as this game is religion neutral). Because of the different monotheistic religions, there is probably three/four different sects of Angels, one for Judaism, Christianity, Islam and perhaps Zoroastrianism. Though the lower levels are very different, I think the upper echelon is made up of members from all of the different factions and constitute the archangels (Uriel, Raphael, Michael, Gabrial etc…)

You can see how the strict organization is still maintained while I began to toy with the idea of where these beings came from. There’s still an idea of God and they still dominate the monotheistic religions of our modern world as has their narrowing to a specific group of religious tenets. I also began to develop the ‘flow’ of energy between the levels a little better. You can begin to see some standard terminology arising as I hone my vocabulary about the topic of Plemora. Much of the energy discourse has to do with faith/belief as well as generic, universal energy. This refinement of terms would be carried over into later revisions of the Angels as well would my expansion on making them religion neutral. However, I was still pulling on heavy Gnostic beliefs at this time so there was still a great focus on religion. The next iteration, however, was the most in-depth for a long while and it had been inspired after a rather remarkably industrious surge of output from Derek.

This vision of the Angels I call the Gnostic Stumble.

Accessed from http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/alexandre-cabanel/fallen-angel.

Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel (1868).

Gnostic Stumble Angels

Leader: The Angel Melchisedek/Lucifer

The Choir is how daemonkin’s refer to the “angels” as a group. The angels are a class of daemon that serve incredibly powerful entities known as gods. Angels hunt and destroy daemonkin, killing the physical vessel of the human and capturing the energy body in talismans.

Paradigm: The beliefs of the Choir are involved and complex, requiring a faith in the higher energy planes of the pleroma. While God (Demiurge) is the technical head of the Choir, the focal point of their energy and the being which they all worship is his son Lucifer – the de facto leader. Melchisedek is the archangel appointed by Lucifer to monitor and contain the physical plane.

The One True King: the Demiurge has come to believe he is the true creator of life and the universe. He does not believe in a higher authority, believing himself to be that higher authority. His gaze is forever downward, on the millions of worshipers and followers on Earth. To him, all daemonkin are just fallen angels – individuals who have strolled away from his graces. However, due to Lucifer’s convincing, the Demiurge does not directly interfere with the physical plane but remains dormant and watching within the energy plane called The Kingdom.

The Wayward Child: Lucifer, alone, believes in a higher spiritual authority. He acknowledges the existence of the Eternal Divine Principle (the Creator) from which all existence emanated. Accordingly, Lucifer believes one of the aware emanations of the Creator – an Aeon – created the Demiurge. The Demiurge is not the Eternal Divine Principle but a simple Archon who has been deluded by his own grandeur. Lucifer believes that the Demiurge was created by the Aeon of Wisdom Sophia. When Sophia saw the Demiurge and his blindness, she attempted to illuminate him of the truth. The Demiurge refused to listen and she turned to the Demiurge’s first bastard creation – Lucifer. She bestowed upon Lucifer the knowledge of the higher planes in the hopes of returning the Demiurge to this paradise – this Eden. However, Lucifer failed to convince his father of Eden and instead became obsessed with returning to this paradise of his own accord. To do so, he crafted a religion around the Demiurge on Earth to channel the will and belief of the people in order to become strong enough to Ascend.

Paradise Lost: Lucifer maintains that he entered paradise but that the Aeons immediately turned upon him for being flawed, ousting him from Eden. Since then, Lucifer has turned to humanity in order to fuel his violent re-entry. Lucifer wishes to reclaim the lost heritage of his father at all costs. Lucifer maintains that the Aeons wish to keep him barred from paradise and created new Archons with the sole purpose of opposing him – swaying the hearts and minds of the mortals away from the Demiurge while fighting his siblings in a constant war against the Demiurge’s private plane The Kingdom. These are the ‘false gods’ and the origins of the other daemons who the Demiurge sees just as fallen angels.

Eden Forgotten, Hell Forged: When pressed for details on the higher plane, Lucifer can not remember them vividly. It has been a long time since his claimed entrance to this higher plane and he mentions only seven other Aeons residing within its plane. These Aeons, Lucifer argues, are perfect beings comprised of all virtues. Their creations, however, are imperfect and often just the exaggeration of a single virtue or missing a virtue. With each successive level of creation, the beings produced are more and more imperfect. Lucifer wished to know if it were possible for a lower being to create something greater than itself. So, aside from protecting his worship base, Lucifer also toyed with humanity, gently guiding them in some grand experiment to see if they could rise above their station. The recent creation of Cyberspace has excited Lucifer quite a bit as it is his first indication of a lower level being creating something amazing. Angels, generally, do not enter the Dreamspace and are typically unaware or uncaring towards its existence.

Wisdom’s Interference: Lucifer maintains that Sophia is constantly waging a ceaseless war against his efforts. He believes that Sophia is the one that rallied the Aeons against him and created the unending assault on The Kingdom. He also maintains that Sophia constantly emanates avatars to Earth in order to Enlighten humanity of the existence of Eden and the Eternal Divine. Lucifer knows nothing of the Eternal Divine save that it appears to remain uninvolved in the affairs of lower energy entities.

The Kingdom: The Choir doesn’t appear as the stereotypical dove winged individuals. Instead they have a very otherworldly appearance – almost alien. For the most part, they appear almost genderless, all possessing fine and delicately feminine features with the tall and toned masculine form. This androgyny is in reference to Lucifer’s desire to rejoin with the higher planes and the entities not defined and limited by such separations as gender. Furthermore, with those possessing or activating a perception of energy, every single member of the Choir from the lowly cherubim to the mighty archangels, possess ribbon tendrils that connect them back to Metatron. This immediate connection with the heavenly energy source is the reason why the Choir is so powerful. At any moment, Metatron can redirect excessive amounts of energy to any Choir member in need, stymieing the flow from members not in immediate danger. These same energy ribbons are what give the Choir the appearance of “wings”.

These last two are going to be the longest. I went full out on the Gnostic structure but it gave lots of inspiration for working out more of the details of the organization. Of greatest importance was that paradigm line. I decided on this iteration of the Angels that I wanted each major organization to have a unique outlook on the world and how it functioned. This seemed like a logically course to take, as the lore of Plemora is so steeped in faith and belief. It seemed imperative to me that the Game Master have a firm grasp on the philosophy that directed each group. I also began to have a better understanding of my cosmology and the delineation between the energy planes and the physical planes.

However, I had grossly failed in my initial goal way back at the start to keep things religion neutral. I didn’t want to impose a specific faith structure on the game system. I used to play Vampire: the Masquerade and one thing that always bothered me was its insistence on the Christian mythological explanation for vampires. It felt like it weighed down story possibilities by making Cain the father of all vampires and the curse being divine retribution from God. It made it very difficult to separate the world created from Christian teachings and parables, especially since vampirism was meant to be viewed as a curse the player would strive to manage or even cure. I personally prefer the tension and conflict that arises from uncertainty. There’s a strength to say “this is how the world works” but I think a greater conflict comes from two opposing philosophical viewpoints that are assured in their accuracy. The Gnostic incarnation of the angels undermined the paradigm system I wanted to put forward. A re-write was necessary and that’s when I arrived at my Host. It’s unlikely this will be the final incarnation of the group but I feel it represents best where I’d like to take the lore of Plemora. The factions are meant to be certain in their understanding of the world’s inner mechanisms but a natural paradox arises between each faction making none of them compatible. This should encourage conflict on a fundamental level. It means that there can be no reconciliation between the groups. Only dominance can prove the veracity of their claim.

I wanted to use Jacob Wrestles with the Angel by Lynd Ward but, alas, copyright. Sorry Lynd.

The Park and the Angel of Death by Gustave Moreau (1890).

Malach Adonai – The Host/The Choir

Leader: Metatron (Mattatron)

The Malach Adonai are a terrifying organization. Long are their roots in the earthly plane, though rare are their manifestations. They have garnered many names throughout the generations between their sparse appearances. Known as The Host, The Choir and most commonly angels, documentation of these entities ranges well back into antiquity. There are few that put as much fear in the daemonkin as a single angel. Some whisper that many a daemon had drifted because they warred with the Host.

There is no interacting with the Host. New daemonkin are often confused by the elegant, almost fragile androgynous form, failing to recognize the danger in the lithe figure that blazes into existence. However, it does not take long to recognize the power of the Malach Adonai. All fear and flee whenever one arrives. Tales of their power are kept alive through frenzied whispers and paranoid retelling. A single angel is attributed with the complete destruction of a Haven. No combination of daemonkin has ever successful kept the Host from their target. They have no interest in parlay or politics. When they arrive, it is to destroy. The most a person can do is get out of their way, hide and hope they were not the reason for the manifestation of such a terrible power.

Paradigm: The beliefs of the Host are involved and complex. They have faith in a higher energy plane, in fact most of the members never tread upon the lower planes of the pleroma. They worship Adonai who is the focal point of their energy. However, this Lord is a faceless and nameless entity. In most circumstances, such organized worship would create a new entity in its place. But the vast power directed towards such an entity would cause it to immediately ascend upon inception. Instead, a surrogate entity takes the place of the Adonai. When named, he is referred to as Metatron.

However, to keep from ascending himself, Metatron immediately uses the great power invested into him to redistribute all the accumulated power amongst the members of the Host. In exchange, the members swear unfaltering and endless devotion to the Adonai, cycling back all their energy to Metatron. This creates an endless loop forever locking their power in an endless exchange between Metatron and his Host.

The One True King:

The Malach Adonai system of power would not work with just the faith and fealty of its Host members. Instead, Metatron is almost entirely reliant upon the faith of The Flock. These are the faithful on the physical plane who gladly revere the Adonai without need for power in return. Since the spread of the Adonai cult relies on an amorphous and intangible image, the Flock are able to substitute whatever image they desire. This allowed the idea of the Adonai to spread amongst wildly different cultures and peoples. Unlike most higher planar creatures which often feed quite forcibly from their victims, the Malach Adonai feeds almost entirely on faith. This willing generation of power towards the Host has proved to be both long sustaining and incredibly profitable.

None have seen Metatron and it is rumoured that his visage is that of the ever shifting forms in which he is worshiped. Others claim, however, that Metatron is little more than a mindless husk, locked into this unconscious system of power cycling and takes on little form or personality. Either way, it seems most agree that Metatron has become less a person and more a personification of the Malach Adonai power system. He has become a truly impartial Lord of many.

The Kingdom of All:

The danger of the Host lies in Metatron’s ability to direct far more energy into a member than could reasonably be kept before that individual would ascend. Like electrons, any entity that becomes supercharged will jump from one plane to the next. A member of the Host, however, has access to an energy pool far outstripping anything that would exist on its plane. By holding most of it in reserve and channeling what is needed, a Host member essentially has infinite energy generation. Thus, they are capable of inhuman strength and regeneration as all energy spent on these processes are almost immediately replenished. Thus, an enemy of the Host will find their attacks practically bouncing off useless and each strike from the Host is able to tear even the most intricate and impenetrable defenses apart.

Because this energy is dispersed amongst a wide membership, however, the more power a single member expends, the more Metatron must draw from the other members. If a battle is incredibly draining on one member, though that Host will not show signs of fatigue his kin are slowly weakening as Metatron siphons from each to keep the fight alive.

Even more maddening, is destroying a Host member is futile as once a member reaches a critical point, Metatron absorbs the majority of their power back into the system and redirects it to the next closest agent, re-initiating the fight without any serious loss of power.

Child of Divinity:

Because of the singular nature of the host, members exhibit a surprising uniformity in their appearance. While there is enough difference to separate one form the other, they almost universally manifest as an otherworldy being – almost alien. All possess fine and delicately feminine features with a tall and toned masculine form. This androgyny makes individualization difficult, promoting a uniting amongst the Host in image and belief. However, there are often telling marks to suggest the origins of its members. The few individuals who have survived encounters with different Host members have attested to markings the separate them. Some appear slightly more masculine or feminine. There is slight variation in size, handedness, favoured weapon manifestation and marks often attributed to scarring. This suggests that the Host does not create simulacrum but that all members were once likely human but ascended through infusion with Metatron. Likely, given the use of Disciples and the reliance on earthly worship, the Malach Adonai recruits new members from the devoted and once they swear utmost fealty and reverence to the Adonai they are ascended into the higher ranks.

There does seem to be separate organization amongst the Host as well. Intuitions from daemonshards suggest that part of the marking and differentiation between Host members denotes their position in the Host. If their earthly teachings are anything to follow, there exists quite a lot of different levels from the Cherubim up to the dreaded Archangels.

Blessed Neglect:

Despite their reliance on faith generated on the physical plane, the Host rarely interferes with worldly affairs. They have no interest in the petty politics. So long as they receive the faith generated by the people, they care not what happens otherwise to their followers. Even direct interference with their flock is unlikely to summon an agent of the Host. Typically, most issues will be resolved on their own by their followers and any more niggling problems are usually overcome with a Disciple. Only a significant threat to their faithful would elicit a response from the Host. Otherwise, their appearance is typically to seek out Daemons who seek refuge on the physical plane or to find and eliminate the last vestiges of a particularly power enemy that has drifted.

Hegemony of the Script:

As an organization based on faith, the Host maintains with utmost sincerity the mythology of its institute. The vast majority of Malach Adonai do not understand the structure of their organization and belief they are receiving power directly from their Lord. In a sense, they do, though it is unlikely many of them picture their Adonai as Metatron. In their belief, they follow a Lord who ascended millenium ago and they are the arm of this powerful Lord, enacting his will.