Ok, time to get back to the story. I spent some time figuring out just how I wanted this bit to work, so hopefully it comes off how I want it to. New readers: Chapter one is here. If you're interested, please check it out, and give some critique. Cheers all.
Like statues, the iron clad knights didn't even shift at AEgon's appearance. They remain still.
AEgon wondered if they're still alive. If they were just empty suits of armour. He couldn't see anything inside the suits. Helmet meets gorget meets pauldron; pauldron seems fused to couters and couters to vembraces. Likewise pauldron joins faulds and tassets. Cuisses joined the impossibly impenetrable plates of armour that seemed to be the only body of the knights surrounding him. Each peice of the plate armour was an extension of the one before it, like a thick bony plating it was the body of the knights surrounding him in a way he couldn't fathom. There was no way there was anyone in that armour - they couldn't stand up in that armour, let alone put it all on.
Impossibly they rose as one. The former ring of statues became a threatening barrier of impenetrable steel.
Or so it would be for a normal human. AEgon just ran though the steel apparitions, heading towards his friends . . . who were just behind those knights there. He charged onwards, only to be confronted with the same armoured fence. Looking around, he had not moved. He was in the middle of the circle of knights - obviously some sort of magic was in effect. AEgon called to his comrades, but got no reply. "I must escape these inquisitors of the white order" he frantically thought. "There must be some way to escape this magic."
Suddenly a voice boomed from the universe, yet only came from inside his own head. "Be Calm", it commanded in a voice that was impossible to ignore. It commanded, and AEgon obeyed. He could only obey, he could not question, dissent or refusal was not an option. He obeyed.
The knights all stood in this circle, and waited.
After what seemed like an epoch, the voice boomed out again. "You are an agent of Morr." After a longer wait "You have a mighty destiny".
"You shall dim the unbearable light."
"You shall quote the scripture from Morr's book, and give balance to undeath."
"You shall administer the final mercies, and the mercy after those."
"You shall walk with the angels of death, dance with the reapers of Morr, and shall not survive, the end will see you not in the kingdom of undeath."
"You shall be Morr's vassal, the Spectral Knight, fighting for your liege. Protecting those who can not defend themselves, a shield to cast shadow from the harsh sun. An unliving sigil of the break in Ani's circle. To this end you shall have a company made from life, death, undeath and unlife. To achieve this you shall have these vassals under you. They will obey you in your hour of need, the captain of their lifeless, deathless, unliving and yet not undead company."
The voice stopped, and AEgon knew he would never hear it again. The circle of knights all kneeled as one, offering their swords before them. After a moment, AEgon heard another voice, coming from all the knights. It wasn't a group of voices, but one voice from many mouths. "Greetings AEgon. We are bound to you, Liege. Will you command us?" AEgon wondered how to respond. He decided to risk a command, "At ease, men." As one the knights returned to their seats around the circle." This second voice once more emerged form the mouths of the circle "Call your friends, we will take watch tonight. " Without speaking the circle of knights rose again, and like clockwork strode off into the darkness, presumably watching for intruders.
AEgon called to his friends, and they came into the circle. It was going to be a long night, a long explanation and so he began to pass on the tale of what just happened to him. The group huddled around the fire, avidly discussing and planning, questioning the odd knights, AEgon's voices and the consequences of this. Sleep didn't fall upon the camp until the moon was well above their heads - although the constricting canopy of the forrest made certain that the adventurers below never saw more then a glimmer of moonlight.
EDIT: Edited after Ravyn's comment. Fixed tense issues, and showed not told with the panic.
Want to keep reading? Chapter nine is here.
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Monday, 21 July 2008
My settings
G'day loyal(?) readers. Now I know I can use that 's' :). I wanted to talk about my settings here. I've been working with one of my settings on this blog, and it is a fairly normal fantasy setting. Dwarves, elves, dragons, magic, knights with big swords, and all that. I also have a few other settings I'm working on.
My 'Worlds crash' setting is set in our world, only it has 'collided' with a fantasy world. Suddenly we have magic, and therefore dragons, vampires, zombies. Different places treat them differently, but friction and therefore action ensures.
My 'Spacerift' setting is based, well, in space. This is not a place you'd want to live in though, corporations have set up harsh totalitarian dictatorships, and control almost all the money there is. Most people work for the system, but a few 'Riftpirates' work against it, making a criminal living by smuggling mainly, but often worse crimes. Genetic modification has lead to different species of humans created for specific tasks. The Krox for example are large four armed monsters with heightened aggression, strength, reactions and resilience, bred to be soldiers, whereas the 'Spacers' are lithe 6 fingered pilots whose enhanced reaction speeds and delicate movements make them natural pilots, but their fragile bone system will break and shatter under normal gravity.
There are others, but my fantasy setting (aka. the 'Erondian' setting or the 'Firstworld' setting) will be the one I work with most. Unless I state otherwise, all my stories from here on in will be set in my Firstworld setting, but the others will apear from time to time. Cheers all, and thanks for reading this.
My 'Worlds crash' setting is set in our world, only it has 'collided' with a fantasy world. Suddenly we have magic, and therefore dragons, vampires, zombies. Different places treat them differently, but friction and therefore action ensures.
My 'Spacerift' setting is based, well, in space. This is not a place you'd want to live in though, corporations have set up harsh totalitarian dictatorships, and control almost all the money there is. Most people work for the system, but a few 'Riftpirates' work against it, making a criminal living by smuggling mainly, but often worse crimes. Genetic modification has lead to different species of humans created for specific tasks. The Krox for example are large four armed monsters with heightened aggression, strength, reactions and resilience, bred to be soldiers, whereas the 'Spacers' are lithe 6 fingered pilots whose enhanced reaction speeds and delicate movements make them natural pilots, but their fragile bone system will break and shatter under normal gravity.
There are others, but my fantasy setting (aka. the 'Erondian' setting or the 'Firstworld' setting) will be the one I work with most. Unless I state otherwise, all my stories from here on in will be set in my Firstworld setting, but the others will apear from time to time. Cheers all, and thanks for reading this.
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
On: the gods and religion of the otherworlds.
So I've mentioned Morr and Ani, and hinted at other gods, but what do they mean to the Otherworlds? Well, for one, the pagan pantheon of gods worshiped in the Otherworlds are real (in the context of the fiction anyhow). However they are fairly vague sort of beings, and tend not to take to much of a direct hand in matters. So now I think some introductions are in order.
Firstly The Source, aka: The Source of all things, the creator, the first, the ageless, the infinite. He created the otherworlds. The rest is mysterious. ie. We don't know. However we know he created the titans and the ancients.
The Ancients are Ani, Morr, Wyrd and Hojo. They are the ancients of life, death, order/destiny and Chaos respectively. It is not so much that they are for those things, as much as Ani defines the characteristics of life. Death is death, because it is Morr's domain.
The Titans are also four in number, one dedicated to each element. K'z'k is the titan of fire, Sharna of water, Gorim of earth and Aegia of air. They are not so much defined by their element so much as they define the element. Fire is hot and burns stuff, because K'z'k personifies those traits. K'z'k is wild and violent, and very destructive. He is the fastest to anger, and takes the longest to calm. Sharna is moody and tempermental, and will also anger quickly, but will collect herself and calm just as quickly. Gorim is slow and ponderous, his temperment like stone (or more correctly stone resembles his temperment). He won't anger quickly, but when he is moved to violence, his wrath is an avalanche of implacable fury. Aegia is often depicted as his wife, and is fickle but not prone to violence.
The Eldar Gods are the gods of the elves, trolls, giants and dragons. They express loose groupings of moods and concepts, as they were created by the concentration of these concepts. Typhil, Eldar of sickness and disease for example is famine, illness and blight personified in a deity. His bloated body sits upon a throne of petulant corpses. He is attended by rats and the very ill. He was created by the collective thoughts of sickness, and as sickness spreads his power waxes. Nympus, Eldar of beauty however is a seductive queen with a body so perfect that all lust for her. She is called upon to bless children so they grow to be attractive, and her domain is over all things of beauty. As the old races, and the young races were spawned they also preyed to these gods.
The Old Gods in contrast are the gods created by the dwarves, gnomes, fayrie and meyr. They are created in much the same way as the Eldar Gods, but they are more focused. They are pantheons unique to each race, and they have complex histories fueding with other gods, fighting mighty beasts and banishing demons. The Eldar races never had gods in this fashion, as they each prayed to the Ancients, and the Eldar gods for protection. An example of this is Havestos, dwarven god of the forge.
The Young Gods make up massive and complex pantheons that are constantly in flux and the god's powers wax and wane. These gods are common, and are usualy much less powerful then the old gods or the eldar gods. However, they tend to take a much more avid interest in the life and day to day existance of mortals. This is as their power is in direct proportion to the amount of faith their followers have in them. These gods are constantly at war with eachother, and many are dying as their followers are put to the sword, their shrines torn down and their names forgottern.
The Dark Gods are a subgroup of all the gods. They are the negitive, evil gods, who are evil by their very nature. They are numourous and all bare only one common trait, being malicious in intent. They themselves are the product of evil deeds and thoughts, they will often work with and against eachother. They are lead by the Eldar God Malik, god of evil. Underneith him are the seven sins. Each one of the seven are gods dedicated to a sin.
The Spirit Gods are created by ancestor worship, by praying to the spirits of the dead they become a type of minor deity. They are weaker then most the other gods, but they are much closer to the mortal plane, and will frequently take a hand in what happens. They can be like a kind of gaurdian angel for their decendants, giving them luck and strength when needed.
The Chaos Gods were created by Hojo, they are a caste of gods designed to keep the world in a constant state of flux and flow. They were the original gods of the orcs and the beastmen. However, by their very nature they won't remain worshipped by any group, their fickleness means they make poor gods, and they usualy forget their charges and find new ones. They don't even have permanant names or identities - at times there is one, at other times there are an infinate pantheon of them warring with everything and everyone. Or not, just to mix things up ;).
Firstly The Source, aka: The Source of all things, the creator, the first, the ageless, the infinite. He created the otherworlds. The rest is mysterious. ie. We don't know. However we know he created the titans and the ancients.
The Ancients are Ani, Morr, Wyrd and Hojo. They are the ancients of life, death, order/destiny and Chaos respectively. It is not so much that they are for those things, as much as Ani defines the characteristics of life. Death is death, because it is Morr's domain.
The Titans are also four in number, one dedicated to each element. K'z'k is the titan of fire, Sharna of water, Gorim of earth and Aegia of air. They are not so much defined by their element so much as they define the element. Fire is hot and burns stuff, because K'z'k personifies those traits. K'z'k is wild and violent, and very destructive. He is the fastest to anger, and takes the longest to calm. Sharna is moody and tempermental, and will also anger quickly, but will collect herself and calm just as quickly. Gorim is slow and ponderous, his temperment like stone (or more correctly stone resembles his temperment). He won't anger quickly, but when he is moved to violence, his wrath is an avalanche of implacable fury. Aegia is often depicted as his wife, and is fickle but not prone to violence.
The Eldar Gods are the gods of the elves, trolls, giants and dragons. They express loose groupings of moods and concepts, as they were created by the concentration of these concepts. Typhil, Eldar of sickness and disease for example is famine, illness and blight personified in a deity. His bloated body sits upon a throne of petulant corpses. He is attended by rats and the very ill. He was created by the collective thoughts of sickness, and as sickness spreads his power waxes. Nympus, Eldar of beauty however is a seductive queen with a body so perfect that all lust for her. She is called upon to bless children so they grow to be attractive, and her domain is over all things of beauty. As the old races, and the young races were spawned they also preyed to these gods.
The Old Gods in contrast are the gods created by the dwarves, gnomes, fayrie and meyr. They are created in much the same way as the Eldar Gods, but they are more focused. They are pantheons unique to each race, and they have complex histories fueding with other gods, fighting mighty beasts and banishing demons. The Eldar races never had gods in this fashion, as they each prayed to the Ancients, and the Eldar gods for protection. An example of this is Havestos, dwarven god of the forge.
The Young Gods make up massive and complex pantheons that are constantly in flux and the god's powers wax and wane. These gods are common, and are usualy much less powerful then the old gods or the eldar gods. However, they tend to take a much more avid interest in the life and day to day existance of mortals. This is as their power is in direct proportion to the amount of faith their followers have in them. These gods are constantly at war with eachother, and many are dying as their followers are put to the sword, their shrines torn down and their names forgottern.
The Dark Gods are a subgroup of all the gods. They are the negitive, evil gods, who are evil by their very nature. They are numourous and all bare only one common trait, being malicious in intent. They themselves are the product of evil deeds and thoughts, they will often work with and against eachother. They are lead by the Eldar God Malik, god of evil. Underneith him are the seven sins. Each one of the seven are gods dedicated to a sin.
- Lucifer: pride
- Mammon: greed
- Asmodeus: lust
- Levian: envy
- Beelzebub: gluttony
- Amon: wrath
- Belphegor: sloth
The Spirit Gods are created by ancestor worship, by praying to the spirits of the dead they become a type of minor deity. They are weaker then most the other gods, but they are much closer to the mortal plane, and will frequently take a hand in what happens. They can be like a kind of gaurdian angel for their decendants, giving them luck and strength when needed.
The Chaos Gods were created by Hojo, they are a caste of gods designed to keep the world in a constant state of flux and flow. They were the original gods of the orcs and the beastmen. However, by their very nature they won't remain worshipped by any group, their fickleness means they make poor gods, and they usualy forget their charges and find new ones. They don't even have permanant names or identities - at times there is one, at other times there are an infinate pantheon of them warring with everything and everyone. Or not, just to mix things up ;).
Thursday, 3 July 2008
Fire, Clock, Certanity - A writing exercise
Now I'm going to try a writing exercise that I've seen elsewhere. Basicaly you get given 3 words and you must write aas fast as you can for 5 mins. You must start with one of the 3 words, and use the other 2 in the 1st paragraph. The idea is not to stop and over-think it or self edit whilst writing it. Here's my effort:
Fire scorced the old houde. It licked the walls with red hot tounges, slimbed the walls, burnt paintings and photgraphs alike. It arched across the old wooden roof, eating away at the bracings holding up the wall. An old grandfather clock boomed out its ringing cry, it was midnight. Then it too caught fire, and burnt. It was falling apart, just like the building. There was one certanity, and that was that the building would fall. Would there be survivors? Would anyone care? These things oculd not be known for sure, but Abagail knew as she left the burning infurno that come tomorrow there would only be rubble in this spot, instead of the only home she had ever known.
She ran out into the cobbled streets, and cried out for help. She screamed to her neghbours, she ranted and reved. Running down the cobblestones in her nightgown, the silloette of a little girl ran from door to door, asking for anyone to help. Anyone. But no-one did. No-onw could care less about another orphan, begging on the streets. Times were hard, and Abagail's parent's weren't friendly with her neighbourhood. they weren't friendly with anyone now, their charred sketeltons lying against the door of their bedroom, where they had been locked in. No-one wanted to kill them; well, no-one anyone knew of anyway. They were new to the neighborhood, hadn't had the chance to make friends or enamies. No-one even knew their names, except little Abagail, running down the street, crying. Searching for help.
Fire scorced the old houde. It licked the walls with red hot tounges, slimbed the walls, burnt paintings and photgraphs alike. It arched across the old wooden roof, eating away at the bracings holding up the wall. An old grandfather clock boomed out its ringing cry, it was midnight. Then it too caught fire, and burnt. It was falling apart, just like the building. There was one certanity, and that was that the building would fall. Would there be survivors? Would anyone care? These things oculd not be known for sure, but Abagail knew as she left the burning infurno that come tomorrow there would only be rubble in this spot, instead of the only home she had ever known.
She ran out into the cobbled streets, and cried out for help. She screamed to her neghbours, she ranted and reved. Running down the cobblestones in her nightgown, the silloette of a little girl ran from door to door, asking for anyone to help. Anyone. But no-one did. No-onw could care less about another orphan, begging on the streets. Times were hard, and Abagail's parent's weren't friendly with her neighbourhood. they weren't friendly with anyone now, their charred sketeltons lying against the door of their bedroom, where they had been locked in. No-one wanted to kill them; well, no-one anyone knew of anyway. They were new to the neighborhood, hadn't had the chance to make friends or enamies. No-one even knew their names, except little Abagail, running down the street, crying. Searching for help.
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