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A Contest of ChampionsThe main forces of our respective armies had moved off to the south. My regiment remained at the Haiduk Aqueduct, ostensibly to hold it, but really because the Zultanista regiment across the field was still in the area. They, I discovered later, were remaining in the area because we were still there. Ridiculous.
When the idea came for a Contest of Champions to determine who would hold the Aqueduct, I immediately volunteered. One way or another, win or lose, we could then quit this staring contest and return to the real fighting. The Zultanista commander agreed with ours.
Bright and early, just as dawn was breaking, I and my servant climbed the ivy that grew on the crumbling stones of the Haiduk. I saw my opposite number and his servant climbing up the other side.
It was quite a shock when we both reached the top, and looked full into one another’s face across the Aqueduct’s channel. It was the Sandman I had fought alongside Baron Theodoreson in the alley behind Baroness Izolda’s house back in Chansonville! I saw he recognized me as well.
I spoke first. “Good morning, Rahimat. You’re looking well. Care for a spot of breakfast?” I indicated my manservant, who was setting out a dozen eggs, some rashers of bacon, a loaf of fresh white bread, a knob of butter, a small skillet, and a somewhat cracked but still serviceable heatstone.
The Sandman unhooked the veil that covered the lower part of his face, letting it hang free, before he replied. "Leftenant Armandson—-"
“Victor, please.”
He paused before continuing. “Victor, then. I would like nothing better.” He snapped his fingers, and his manservant stepped forward with a wooden tray, bearing a steaming silver pot, a small copper bowl and cover, and a stoneware jug beaded with sweat. “Coffee?”
We smiled at one another.
As is right and proper, we broke our fast together before we tried to kill one another.
—Leftenant Victor Armandson, King’s Musketeer, Knight of Grande Dellaluna
This piece of flashfiction is the third part of a sort of triptych of flashfiction: three interrelated bits of story. Of course, they're spread throughout the book. This moment is an homage, of course, to two -- possibly three -- of my favorite swashbuckling moments. Can you guess which ones?
Pre-order the book here!Tags: asmp, evilhat, fiction-and-poetry, game design, gaming, mad rpg theory, pdq, s7s, writing
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Duel, InterruptedI had become embroiled in a duel with Baron Estevan Theodoreson over a woman of high birth who enjoyed both of our acquaintances. The Baron had the temerity to aver that his passion for my mistress was greater than mine! So you can see, I had no recourse than to prove my love for her upon his body with my sword.
As we were crossing blades in the courtyard behind the Church of the City of Light, one of my subordinates came up running. He called a halt to the duel, informing me that a Zultanate agent had entered the home of my mistress, and was threatening her. I, of course, begged the Baron’s pardon for delaying our mutual satisfaction due to matters of state. He concurred with a will, then offered to accompany me and my men to face the Zultanista.
I, of course, readily accepted. We ran down the streets of Chansonville to the home of our mutual friend.
—Leftenant Victor Armandson, King’s Musketeer, Knight of Grande Dellaluna
This piece of flashfiction is actually the first part of a sort of triptych of flashfiction: three interrelated bits of story. Of course, they're spread throughout the book. My intent was to use them as a sort of "thread" to help "sew up" a very sprawling concept in the book: the Island of Colrona, with its two nations: The Kingdom and the Zultanate. Check out the wiki page for this story to see the other two flashfics! Pre-order the book here!Tags: asmp, evilhat, fiction-and-poetry, game design, gaming, mad rpg theory, pdq, s7s, writing
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The Sinking of DumazLong ago — longer than any of you here have been alive — I watched the island of Dumaz vanish beneath the Blue. It had been a small island, colonized by the Barathi and covered with vineyards. My friend and lover, Melli — she who learned alongside me at my master’s knee — remained, even after the rest of the colonists had fled. She wanted to see what lurked beneath the cerulean surface, and had wrought such tools and magics that she thought would protect her from the Blue if but for a few moments. She grinned as she asked me to wait for her return.
From my small skyship, I watched as Dumaz sank in the dawn light. I watched as Melli stood within her circles on the highest peak of the island. I watched as the Blue lapped up over her feet, her knees, her torso. I watched as she laughed, unconcerned. I watched her head leave a ripple as she descended. I watched her hand wave jauntily at me before it disappeared into the Blue.
I waited until sundown. She didn’t return. I searched with all our arts — the Merhorse, the Basilisk, even the Dragon. The Blue itself lashed out at me, each time.
I waited a year, for naught.
Now the World is lacking the sweet wines of Dumaz and the tinkling laughter of my fair Melli.
— Gold-Eyed Niko, Sha-Ku Koldun, before the Fraternity of Night
Peppered throughout Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, there are a number of flashictions, roughly the size of the one above. The intent I had writing them and putting them into the book was to give a quick, short "hook" to serve as a pointer to the swashbuckling genre, several moods and tones, and more texture to the S7S setting itself. A secondary goal was to make each flashfiction a piece of inspiration for adventure ideas for GMs and players, be it for character backgrounds or adventure seeds. Let's take the somber piece above: what could someone take from the above piece for their home S7S campaign? * The characters of Gold-Eyed Niko and Melli. * The fate of Melli and Dumaz (and what that means). * The colonists who fled. (Did they go/get back to Barathi?) * Ideas on how the Blue reacts to mystic powers. * A cache of wine from Dumaz would serve as excellent treasure/booty. * The feeling of True Love, lost, maybe forever -- and how that relates to the loss of a cloud-island. And so on. I'm sure others could tease out more and different ideas from the piece above. What do you think?
Remember: S7S Hardcover preorders are here. Tags: asmp, evilhat, fiction-and-poetry, game design, gaming, mad rpg theory, pdq, s7s, writing
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Work Journal: And so we come to the close of a week of enforced-non work, in an effort to recharge my batteries after the final lap of my DFRPG heavy-lifting. I spent the time socializing, watching and reading semi-swashbuckling media ( Hamlet sort of counts), and generally just trying to chill out. And now I have a choice: a) work on chapter 2 of my novel, or b) work on S7S. I'm gonna go with b). Simply, I cannot: 1. Think about a), since b) is eating brain-cycles. 2. Assemble a local gamma group of appropriate size for the last bits of testing (but hey, plenty of playtesters JUST WAITING for stuff on the list). Also, the gamma rules for S7S have drifted a bit from the beta, in some ways further out from core PDQ and in other ways back closer to it. (Maybe that's a rotation rather than a drift?) So, tonight, I'll start on updating the gamma handout for S7S with the "lessons learned" from the last local gamma, and use that as my "roadmap" for recrafting chapters 5 (characters) and 6 (rules) of the manuscript. Then I'll push the files out to the playtesters with some targeted areas for test. With luck and sweat, maybe I can have all that assembled by next Friday evening. Tags: asmp, dresden, fiction-and-poetry, game design, pdq, s7s, work journal, writing
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From Stephen Fry's The Ode Less Travelled: Unlocking the Poet Within: Chapter 1, "Metre," footonote 14: 14. Milton, like many seventeenth- and eighteenth-century exponents of iambic pentameter, seemed very reluctant to use feminine endings, going so far as to always mark "heaven" as the monosyllabic "heav'n" whenever it ended a line. Finding two hendecasyllables in a row in Paradise Lost is like looking for a condom machine in the Vatican.And quoting a line from Shakespeare's "Sonnet 1": But thou, | contract | ed to | thine own | bright eyes [18] Chapter 1, "Metre," footonote 18: 18. If you already know your feet and think that this is really an amphibrach, a dactyl and two iambs, I'm afraid I shall have to kill you.Hee! Tags: books, fiction-and-poetry, silly, writing
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With the completion of my initial work on the Small Favor matrix and some freelance editing, I am taking a short break. Of course, for me, "break" means I only work on one project, because I iz insaneymans. But which. One. Spock? Which. One? Poll #1180446 "Break"
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 49 Which "for-fun" project should I work on during my "break"? Lemme know, f-list. Taking you advice until tomorrow evening. But for tonight: comicable books and wine, oh yes. Latah! Tags: asmp, dresden, evilhat, fiction-and-poetry, game design, gaming, s7s, sekrit projekt, sf&f, work journal, writing, zoz
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Work Journal: 4 pages of longhand, legal pad notes on Small Favor. This brings us up to 90% of the text. ALSO... From this post, I have closed out the following TO DO items: 4. Zorcerer of Zo-based fairy tales: EXCEPTION: Must write one as present for somebody's birthday. RESEARCH DONE. 6. Script Collaboration: Final draft done; ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) patricks is submitting to contests and whatnot. Now, I print sumfing out and start dinner. Tags: dresden, evilhat, fiction-and-poetry, game design, work journal, writing, zoz
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