January 2026 Character Creation Challenge Character 4

Jan. 4th, 2026 10:07 pm
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Character 4

System: Sword World 2.5


I'm going to go step by step through the process for creating a beginning Sword world Character, so I'm going to put a bunch of stuff behind spoiler tags

MIranda, Runefolk Artificer. AKA マジテック の ショーター ミランダ

So for my first Sword World character creation, I'm going to create a Runefolk marksman, simply because I liked the picture in the game book. Since I am only using the three core books, I'm anticipating she'll be very similar to the base character. Runefolk are artificial humans created back in the days of the Magitech civilization. Aside from a their neck (and possibly other body parts being covered with a hardened material, they are identical to humans, and also need to eat and sleep. However, they are born fully adult from generators.

Background: There are four tables one can roll on, three to give background ideas, one for a reason to adventure. Normally this is rolled last, but I'll roll on these tables first:

  • There is (or was) an adventurer in the Family.
  • You admire certain adventurers
  • You've found large ruins.

Why does she Adventure?:
  • Come to power
So...to put that together...She hails from a small Runefolk village in the Burshain region in the Burlight region parented by an artisan and a former adventurer. She loved listening her mother's tales of her service for a noble family, and determined to serve civilization the same way her mother had. While she had an impulse to serve like most runefolk, nobody in the local towns seemed worth serving, and her explorations of the area turned up an ancient magitch ruin, which fascinated her, and reminded her of how the technology to create Runefolk generators had been lost. So at the advanced age of three, she has set out to put her talents to use in the greater world, to find some person or organization to serve, and even better, to find lost secrets of magitechnology.

( Steps 1-3: Race, Background, Atributes )

( 4-6: Classes, Language, Combat Feats )

( Step 7 and 8: Equipment and Figured Characteristics )


And that's it. Very close to the shooty runefolk in the book- and flat broke. We'll see how she develops.

MIranda Character Sheet
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January 2026 Character Creation Challenge Character 3

Jan. 4th, 2026 01:54 pm
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Character 3

System: Classic Traveller

I'm having a bit of trouble getting the Sword World and Masks characters together, so today to buy time, I'm just going to remind everyone what a Classic Traveller character sheet should look l like:

Classic Traveller Character Sheet

Extra points if you can name the two SF writers that character's name is assembled from. Hint: they're both writers that use scouts.

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January 2026 Character Creation Challenge Character 2

Jan. 4th, 2026 01:45 pm
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Information on the January 2026 rpg.net Character Creation challenge can be found here.

The Dreamwidth posts are a couple days behind rpg.net. So I'll be posting them in a lump sum.


Character 2
Game: Mongooose Traveller, 2nd Edition.

And another useless noble. Though she does have some skills, and she can serve as a patron or contact.

Katrien Roffissard Duquesne Zakaria

Stats: 496A9B
Again, an excellent set of rolls. Let's see what I make of them.

Background:

Homeworld: A000988-F
Asteroid, Vacuum, Industrial, High Population, High Tech. Gas Giant, Military and Navel Bases present.

Duquesne system is a highly developed asteroid swarm in the same system as a gas giant, with a population in the billions and is a major military and political hub. The perfect place for a huge noble family. We'll say she's 12th in line to the Dukedom of the subsector, and in spite of her title, she'd never do more than manage some of the merchantile or industrial interests. Which she has no interest or aptitude for.

Growing up she'd normally be kept away from the more industrial areas, so think of her growing up in something that looks like a combination of a high-end mall and a city park. Intelligent, active and prone to causing trouble out of boredom, she ran away with her families unofficial blessing. Let's see how this black sheep will do....

Background skills: for a rich bored kid: 3+ 1 for intelligence
Art 0
Athletics 0
Science 0
Vacc Suit 0

Class: Noble
Assignment: Dilettante

Term 1
Enlistment is automatic, with her social of 11.
Survival: Survival 5+, + 1 for social of 11. Roll: 5+1=6. Right off the bat, she got into some sort of trouble she barely got out of .
Advancement: 7+, +1 for Int of 9. 7+1= 8 Success: Her rank is Now 1.
Skills: She gets the basic array of skills at Level 0 (Admin, Advocate, Electronics, Diplomat, Investigate, Persuade), and one extra skill for her promotion:
She rolls on the Service Skills table: 5 = Gambler 1
Personal Events: you sponge off your family's wealth a while longer. Gain a jealous relative as an Enemy. Gain DM+2 to your next advancement roll.

Her first term away from the shelter of her family is rough for a naive spoiled rich kid. Her basic gambling skill gets her in trouble that her family bails her out out of, at the expense of her cousin Alferto. Something he will never forget.

Term 2
Survival 5+, + 1 for social of 11. Roll: 7+1=8. A quiet few years.
Advancement: 7+, +1 for Int 9, + 2 roll of 5+3= 8 Success: Her rank is now 2.
Skills: She gets Carouse 1 for Dilettante Rank 2, plus 1 roll for the term, plus 1 roll for advancement. I take two rolls on Service Skills: 5 = Gambler, 5 = Gambler. W. T. F.
Event: You manipulate and charm your way through high society. Gain one level of Persuade.

She hits her mid 20s, and the high point of her life. The event pretty much gives an idea of what she's like: a charming gambler going through expensive resorts and casinos like a shark through minnows. She's the attractive and stylish young woman who will come up to your table and say "So how is this played again?"

Term 3
Survival 5+, + 1 for social of 11. Roll: 11+1=12 Nooooo problem.
Advancement: 7+, +1 for 9 Int. Roll: 2+ 1 = 3 Well Crap. She fails to continue the Noble career.
Skills: 1 Skill, on the service skills table (please not Gambler): 2: Deception 1
Event: 8: A conspiracy of nobles attempts to recruit you. If you refuse, gain the conspiracy as an Enemy. If you accept, roll Deception 8+ or Persuade 8+. If you fail, roll on the Mishap table as the conspiracy collapses. If you succeed, Gain one level of Deception, Persuade, Tactics or Carouse.
I'll Accept, and Roll Persuasion 8+: roll is 9 +1 = 10. The conspiracy success, and I'll take +1 Persuasion.

This ties together well. She's swaning her way from one casino to the next, until suddenly she deals with a simple request- one that brings her into the deep end of a conspiracy to gain influence with her extended family.. She manages to talk her way through, but the fallout means she has to move from her normal haunts.

Mustering Out: She has 3 rolls for her three terms of service, +1 roll for her rank:
Cash: (+1 to roll) 5+1 = 6 CR 100,000
Benefit: 5: Travellercs Aid Society Membership
Benefit: +1 Soc and Yacht
Benefit: +1 Soc.

So this is interesting: the Lady Katrien is happily flitting from one TAS hostel to another, breaking hearts and gambling tables, when she abruptly finds out she's a baroness. No, make that a Marquissa. Obviously she's gone from 12th in line, to eighth, no make that fifth. Making her the subject of suspicion-or possibly a target. Is it the Conspiracy making a deeper oove? Or someone else? She really needs to find out- pity her skills aren't really suited for the task....


Marquissa Katrien Roffissard Duquesne Zakaria

Noble Dilettante, 3 Terms, age 30

Skills:
Admin 0
Advocate 0
Art 0
Athletics 0
Carouse 1
Deception 1
Diplomat 0
Electronics 0
Gambler 3
Investigation 0
Persuasion 2
Science 1
Vacc Suit 0

CR 100,000
Traveller's Aid Society membership.

Initial Equipment (initial CR 10,000 allotment):
300 Stunstick
500 TL12 Mobile Comm
1000 Toiletries and makeup
2000 Jewelry
6000 Stylish Clothing
 

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January 2026 Character Creation Challenge Character 1

Jan. 4th, 2026 01:38 pm
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Information on the January 2026 rpg.net Character Creation challenge can be found here.

The Dreamwidth posts are a couple days behind rpg.net. So I'll be posting them in a lump sum.

Character 1:
Game system: Classic Traveller
Did you know that in Classic Traveller it's entirely possible to go through an entire Navy career without gaining any skills? Seriously. Each term one can roll on the Personal Development table, which has no skills. Let's see if we can do it....

Quillton Zared Machesky

When he was about to apply to the Navy, his revered grand uncle "Bozie". gave Quillton this advice: "A Healthy Mind in a Healthy Body, that's the first thing you need, lad." Quillton took this advice a little too literally.

Classic Traveller Character Generation:
Roll 2D6 6 times: (Note: Traveller attributes are rolled on 2D6, though stats can go up to fifteen, and the stats 10-15 are listed with the letters A-F)

687889

Strength 6, Dexterity 8, Endurance 7, Intelligence 8, Education 8, Social 9. Which is honestly a really good set of rolls.

Term 1 (Note: all rolls are on 2D6, except for skills, which are 1D6)
Enlistment: need 7+ Roll 10. Success!
Survival 3+, Roll 7. Survives easily.
Commission 9+, Roll 3. No commission. Is he shut out of the officer corps?
Reenlist 6+ Roll 7, success.

Skills: 2 rolls on the Personal Development table: +1 Dex, +1 End.
With his career in doubt, he spends time making himself look "Proper Navy"

Term 2
Survival 3+, roll 4. He barely survives.
Commission 9+, Roll 10. Success! Now an O1 Ensign. Undoubtedly due to his heroics.
Promotion 7+ roll 8. Promoted to O2 Lieutenant. Cruising on his success.
Reenlist 6+, roll 6. His rapid ascent must have gotten on somebody's wrong side.

Skills: 3 rolls in Personal Development, +1 Soc, +1 Dex, +1 End.
Rapid promotion leads to increased social opportunities. Also he hits the gym.

Term 3
Survival 3+, roll 4. Still living dangerously.
Promotion 7+ roll 11. Now an O3, Lt. Commander. Probably with his own ship.
Reenlist 6+, 8 Back in the service, no problem.

Skills: 2 rolls on Personal Development, +1 Education, +1 End.
He hits the library and the gym, possibly at the same time.

Term 4
Survival 3+, roll 5. Seriously? What the hell is he doing that's so dangerous?
Promotion 7+ roll 7 Barely promoted. Maybe he's seen as foolhardy. Still, he is now O4, a Commander.
Reenlist 6+ roll 8
Aging: -1 STR

Skills: 2 rolls on the Personal Development table gives +1 Int, +1 End.

Term 5
Survival 3+, roll 3. I think someone in the admiralty is trying to kill him.
Promotion 7+, roll 4. His career stalls, could this be the end?
Reenlist 6+ roll 7
Aging: -1 End

Skills: One roll on the Personal Development table gives +1 End.

Term 6
Survival 3+, roll 4. I think my dice are broken.
Promotion 7+, roll 8. He is now O5, a Captain!
Reenlist 6+ roll 6. Nearly caught by a force reduction.
Aging: -1 Dex

Skills: He gets + 1 Social from his promotion to Captain. He is now Soc B, a Knight.
Also, Personal Development gives us: +1 Str, +1 Dex

Term 7
Survival 3+, 8 Finally he gets a desk job.
Promotion 7+ roll 10. He easily makes admiral.
Reenlist 6+ roll 3. Just in time to be retired after 28 years of service.
Aging: -1 Str, -1 Dex

Skills: He gets + 1 Social from his promotion to Admiral. He is now Soc C, a Baron.
Also, Personal Development gives us: +1 Str, +1 Edu.

Time to muster out. for 7 terms he gets seven rolls, +3 due to his rank. We'll start with the maximum three rolls on the cash table:

roll 5: Cr20,000
roll 5: Cr20,000
roll 2: Cr5000

45,000 credits to start. Not bad.

Now to the benefits, where he can take a +1 to rolls due to rank.

Traveller's Aid Society (basically an adventurer's club that gives low cost hostel stays)
+2 Social (14, or Marquis)
+1 Int
+2 Edu
+2 Edu
Blade (a large dagger)
+1 Int

Our final result is:

Admiral Marquis Quillton Zared Machesky

69BBEE Age 46
CR 45,000
Member, Traveller's Aid Society
Blade

There he is, probably mingling with the movers and shakers of Imperial nobility, and with lots of riveting stories to tell his nephews about how his dignity and perfect posture saved the day many times.

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January 2026 Character Creation Challenge Introduction

Jan. 4th, 2026 01:28 pm
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Over on rpg.net they've been doing a January character creation challenge: one character a day for every day of January. I started on January 1st., and am using this to give examples of character creation in various games I like. 

It also occurred to me that having a permanent place to post these concepts would be a good idea. And since I don't want to create my own blog...

Here's a general outline of what I intend:
  1. Traveller: Classic and Mongoose 2nd Edition: two useless nobles. with character creation commentary.
  2. Sword World 2.5, a standard (core books only) and a minor class-based character (many supplements, at levels 2 (beginning), 6, and 9. Again with character creation commentary. Total of six characters.
  3. Masks: the "Not the Doomed Playbook" character squad. (4 characters)
  4. Fate Core Venture City: Two basic brawlers and a precog, to demonstrate the system.
  5. Fate Venture City: The X-women, gender flipped versions of classic characters. (5 characters)
  6. Traveller Mongoose The crew of the merchant Ship "Dancing Desire", including the ship as a character. 4-5 characters, with commentary.

Note, this has already gone out the window since I had to make an additional Traveller character.


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James Nicoll's 100 SF/F Books You Should Consider Reading in the New Year

Dec. 31st, 2018 12:50 am
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SOURCE: 100 SF/F Books You Should Consider Reading in the New Year


Italic = read it. Underlined = not this, but something by the same author. Strikethrough = did not finish.


The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison (2014)
The Stolen Lake by Joan Aiken (1981)
Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa (2001-2010)
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō by Hitoshi Ashinano (1994-2006) [partial]
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood (1985)
Stinz: Charger: The War Stories by Donna Barr (1987)
The Sword and the Satchel by Elizabeth Boyer (1980)
Galactic Sibyl Sue Blue by Rosel George Brown (1968)
The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold (1989)
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull (1987)
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler (1980)
Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey (2010)
The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter (1996)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (2015)
Red Moon and Black Mountain by Joy Chant (1970)
The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas (1980)
Gate of Ivrel by C.J. Cherryh (1976)
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho (2015)
Diadem from the Stars by Jo Clayton (1977)
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (1973)
Genpei by Kara Dalkey (2000)
Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard (2010)
The Secret Country by Pamela Dean (1985)
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany (1975)
The Door into Fire by Diane Duane (1979)
On the Edge of Gone by Corinne Duyvis (2016)
Spirit Gate by Kate Elliott (2006)
Enchantress From the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl (1970)
Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle (1983)
The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss (1997)
A Mask for the General by Lisa Goldstein (1987)
Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1995)
Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly (1988)
Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand (1990)
Ingathering by Zenna Henderson (1995)
The Interior Life by Dorothy Heydt (writing as Katherine Blake, 1990)
God Stalk by P. C. Hodgell (1982)
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson (1998)
Zero Sum Game by S.L. Huang (2014)
Blood Price by Tanya Huff (1991)
The Keeper of the Isis Light by Monica Hughes (1980)
God’s War by Kameron Hurley (2011)
Memory of Water by Emmi Itäranta (2014)
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (2015)
Cart and Cwidder by Diane Wynne Jones (1975)
Daughter of Mystery by Heather Rose Jones (2014)
Hellspark by Janet Kagan (1988)
A Voice Out of Ramah by Lee Killough (1979)
St Ailbe’s Hall by Naomi Kritzer (2004)
Deryni Rising by Katherine Kurtz (1970)
Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner (1987)
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962)
Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier (2005)
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (2013)
Biting the Sun by Tanith Lee (Also titled Drinking Sapphire Wine, 1979)
Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (2016)
Wizard of the Pigeons by Megan Lindholm (1986)
Adaptation by Malinda Lo (2012)
Watchtower by Elizabeth A. Lynn (1979)
Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy (1983)
The Outback Stars by Sandra McDonald (2007)
China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh (1992)
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre (1978)
The Riddle-Master of Hed by Patricia A. McKillip (1976)
Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirrlees (1926)
Pennterra by Judith Moffett (1987)
The ArchAndroid by Janelle Monáe (2010)
Jirel of Joiry by C. L. Moore (1969)
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (2016)
The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy (1989)
Vast by Linda Nagata (1998)
Galactic Derelict by Andre Norton (1959)
His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik (2006)
Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara (1993)
Outlaw School by Rebecca Ore (2000)
Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor (2014)
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce (1983)
Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (1976)
Godmother Night by Rachel Pollack (1996)
Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti (1859)
My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland (2011)
The Female Man by Joanna Russ (1975)
Stay Crazy by Erika L. Satifka (2016)
The Healer’s War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1988)
Five-Twelfths of Heaven by Melissa Scott (1985)
Everfair by Nisi Shawl (2016)
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818)
A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski (1986)
The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart (1970)
Up the Walls of the World by James Tiptree, Jr. (1978)
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (1996)
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge (1980)
All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2017)
The Well-Favored Man by Elizabeth Willey (1993)
Banner of Souls by Liz Williams (2004)
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson (2012)
Ariosto by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (1980)
Ooku by Fumi Yoshinaga (2005-present)

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(Repost) Thirty-first Minor Spirit of October: Real?

Oct. 31st, 2018 10:58 pm
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 Thirty-first Minor Spirit of October
Real?
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

“Are they real?” Are you joking?

I mean seriously? After everything I’ve said, everything I’ve shown you this month? Are they real?

OK, fine whatever. All the talk of liminal states, night time or twilight encounters, things seen out of the corners of the eye...you wonder if they're real or a product of our minds.

But here’s the thing. It doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t.

Perception is reality. Everything you experience is a product of your mind. You see a woman walking around a pond on a misty morning, and then she disappears. You get chased by a black dog with red glowing eyes on a dark road at midnight. Did it really happen outside of you? As much as getting hit by a car. As the rapper Del once said, “remember that it's all in your head”

So what I’m saying, if you see a lighthouse on a stormy night, if a light in a window calls to you, if you hear the howling of motorcycles at night, they're real enough for you. Whether or not someone else can see it doesn't matter, because you're in the middle of it.

Except for me. I'm always in the middle of it.

And right now? it doesn’t matter if they’re really out there, or your mind is telling you they are. They’re pissed off as hell, and if you set a foot outside, you’ll die.

So stop waving that knife around, and hand it to me. I’m going to make a circle from my blood, and you’re going to sit in it, until the sun comes up. Me...I’m going to go outside and let them take me...well, wherever. I’ll figure something out.

I’ll be OK, I think.

You’ll see me again, at least.

Somewhere.
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(Repost) Thirtieth Minor Spirit of October: the Great God Nyarlthotep

Oct. 30th, 2018 10:25 pm
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  Reposted from...elsewhere.


Thirtieth Minor Spirit of October
The Great God Nyarlathotep
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

When the light of the sun faded, and the shadows gathered around the mountain meadow, the elder god Nyarlathotep stepped out into the clearing from the surrounding pines. While moonlight limned the eastern mountains, it strode to the top of of the hill, and just as the limb of the full moon appeared over the rim of the tallest peak, it unfurled its face tentacle to its fullest extent and howled- a wail that echoed with the vast horror of an uncaring cosmos.

“Be careful,” my partner whispered in my ear. “Don’t step on it.”

I put my hands on my knees and looked down at the elder god Nyarlathotep. “Aww. ¿Quien es el pequeño elder god más lindo?”

She sighed. “Yes it’s very cute. No you can’t pet it. No you can’t take it home.”
I looked at the elder god speculatively. ”I bet it would fit in my water bottle.”
“Oh come on, you wouldn’t even let me have a dog.”
“It was a Black Hound.”
“Still.”
I sighed. “So anyway, What’s its deal? It’s so small.”

She shrugged. Nyarlathotep gave out another eerie howl, that only we could hear.

“Well, nobody’s quite sure, but people people in the know have been arguing for a long time about spirits. “Some think spirits are products of collective belief. Humanity creates gods.
I considered. “So it’s small because only a few people believe in it.”
“Others think spirits always existed independent of humanity, and developed a symbiotic relationship with us.”

The great god Nyarlathotep let out another moan. I resisted the urge to pick it up. “So I guess that question is settled?”
She snorted. “Like hell. The counter-argument is that some minor spirits imprinted themselves on a couple of susceptible minds.”
“What do you think?”

She scowled, eyeing Nyarlthotep.
"Well?"

She said slowly “I have a friend who’s a witch in New England. She says one night she found a Cthulhu on the beach. It was knee high and and kind of ugly-cute, like a star mole.”
“So?”
She crouched down, looking at it with an unreadable expression. At last she sighed.
“I think we need to stick around, and make sure it doesn’t get eaten by an owl, or caught by a cultist or something.”
“Would they worship it or something? Make...make it bigger?”

The great god Nyarlathotep finished howling, and began stumping down the hill, zig-zagging around patches of mayflowers. A gleam of light down the hill caught my eye. There were voices.
“Quiet!” Someone yelled. “Have some dignity! We’re supposed to be moving with worshipful comportment!”
“But there’s brambles here!”

Her lips compressed into a thin line. “No. But they’d whine. Nothing annoys me like the whining of disillusioned white guys.”

We eased into the woods, following the trail of the Great God Nyarlathotep, until it disappeared under a clump of ferns.
 
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(Repost) Twenty-ninth Minor Spirit of October: the Campsite

Oct. 30th, 2018 10:21 pm
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Reposted from...elsewhere.


Twenty-ninth Minor Spirit of October
The Campsite
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

Stop. I mean it. It’s not what it appears.

This camp is completely wrong. Yes there’s a couple old wadded up jackets and blankets, and a bunch of wrappers and magazines, but can’t you see? They don’t go together. It’s just trash that’s been dragged here from all over. That’s not a fire pit, just rocks in a circle.

It’s Cargo.

Look, Let me explain while you back away. You’ve heard of Cargo, right? No. OK, in some places in Melanesia, status was based on gift giving. When the Europeans came with all their stuff, and then left that was messed up.

Back up now. No, I mean the other way.

The story was some people thought that by building symbolic airports they could get goods directly from the spirits. I mean that’s what white anthropologists used to say, but they now think-

Oh come on. Don’t poke that. Listen!

Think of humans building cities, bulldozing fields and woods. Places of power lost, spirits get forced together. It’s chaos. So some spirits try sympathetic magic of their own. They make ”human places” to attract their own cargo.

That's right. Follow my voice.

But, but, but, here’s the thing. The goods they’re looking for are people. People’s dreams, their emotions, even their bodies. We’re supposed to be the cargo.

So now we have to- no! Don’t sit down. Seriously, we need to-

Oh.

Well. Um. I was just leaving, actually. I mean, I’ll come back in the morning, just to tidy up, OK? Just to get what you leave- I mean, if you want to make it a gift, that would be great.
 
 
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(Repost) Twenty-eighth Minor Spirit of October: Spirits of the Suburbs

Oct. 28th, 2018 11:11 pm
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  Reposted from...elsewhere.

Twenty-eighth Minor Spirit of October
Spirits of the Suburbs
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

So, let’s talk about town spirit versus country spirit. I mean, they’re basically the same, it’s really about how they travel.

Spirits tend to move in straight lines. Or rather, they tend to move along the tracks laid out for them, going from one place to another. In the wilderness or country, that means they tend to pool in clearings and vales- usually around some object that’s spiritually interesting or just stands out.

In cities, it’s easy for spirits to travel place to place. All the natural boundaries like creeks tend to be covered up, so spirits tend to tumble along the straight lines of streets, and congregate in quiet dead end alleys and parks. Ever wonder why you feel nervous walking in those dark places late at night, when everything’s quiet? Well actually, that has nothing to do with spirits. But anyway.

There’s a third area: suburbs. You’ve probably felt nervous in them, and that has everything to do with spirits. Modern suburbs with those odd curving streets, blind cul-de-sacs, and entire neighborhoods connected to main thoroughfares by single streets? They turn the whole area into a liminal space, where there is no journey place to place. The patterns baffle spirits even more than humans; they get trapped in endless loops, raging, furious.

That’s why so many of these neighborhoods get bad attitudes. Not the people, the neighborhoods themselves. Though that probably helps explain why those places tend to be so neurotic. But that’s not the thing that bugs me the most.

Those patterns? They have to have been done deliberately. Somebody knew what the hell they were doing when they designed these suburbs to look attractive, while being spiritually toxic. And they passed the knowledge along. I really don’t want to meet those people.

Because those spirits? Those furious, baffled, toxic spirits?

I’m pretty sure someone’s harvesting them.
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(Repost) Twenty-seventh Minor Spirit of October: The Demon Dog of Valley Crucis, North Carolina

Oct. 28th, 2018 11:05 pm
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 Reposted from...elsewhere.

Twenty-Seventh Minor Spirit of October
The Demon Dog of Valley Crucis, North Carolina
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

Now this is a genuine urban legend. It’s famous. It’s on websites and everything.

According to legend, late at night near the graveyard of this little mountain church in a hilly area of North Carolina, a demon dog will appear out of the mist. According to the people who’ve seen it and lived, the thing is as tall as a grown man, terrifying to see, and it can keep up with fleeing cars until they cross the streams.

I do mean "people who saw it and lived". I mean, they don’t KNOW it’s hurt anyone. Abandoned cars are found occasionally in all sorts of towns. And if no official missing person’s report is filed, the sheriff’s department doesn’t have to look too hard. Especially at night.

And there we are. Big as a horse, check. Long yellow teeth as long as my hand, check. Red glowing eyes. Check. That’s our demon dog. As big and terrifying as the stories say.

And it’s coming toward us. Wow. It really is big.

And all I have is this circle of salt and blood, and. And. And. And this leg of mutton. Would you like a bone?

Aww. Who’s a scary evil hound? You is. Are you the evil hound? Yes you is. Yes you is.

Would you like another leg of mutton? I’ve got one in my bag. All you have to do is take care of those guys who’ve been following us since Bluff Mountain. The ones with the guns and the rope.

And there they are now.

(You might want to turn around for this part)

Oh. You are such a big evil doggie. Such an evil boy. Off you go!

...what? I said I was a dog person!
 
 
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(Repost) Twenty-sixth Minor Spirit of October: The Window Wisp

Oct. 28th, 2018 11:02 pm
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Twenty-Sixth Minor Spirit of October_
The Window Wisp
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

Before you go in, here’s what you should know. It’s OK to be scared. In fact, that’s better that way. But not too scared. I mean you're curious too, right?

Anyway, I think they started off as a variety of Will-o-wisps. Which re all about mystery, luring people, curiosity. So when fields and farms took over, some of them adapted, found thought to find a new way to attract people. They found old castles or mansions, and found a room they could light up. A single light in an upstairs window.

Yes, exactly like the novel covers. That’s what they were based on, after all. And it was all to attract people. Hopefully a woman mingling terror and fascination, or at least teenagers full of curiosity. And it worked well enough for the legends to spread.

But lately, what that single light attracts is bored policemen. Or real estate agents. Followed by bulldozers.

The ones that can, flee. They seek out anything deserted that has a window.. Even if it’s a small, decrepit, one room shack with no glass in the window and holes in the bare wood walls. There’s no room for hidden staircases, or pictures with eyes that follow you. No creepy basement, just dirt under those splintered floorboards.

Look, when you go in, try to be curious and impressed. If you breath fast, your heart will pound. And um...if you look under the loose boards in the north corner? There might be a something. It’s not much, but try to be surprised. And take your time.

Oh. The window’s lit. It’s time to go. Here’s your flashlight.

Leave the light on, OK?
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(Repost) Twenty-fifth Minor Spirit of October: Muse on the Run

Oct. 28th, 2018 11:00 pm
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Twenty-Fifth Minor Spirit of October
Muse on the Run
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

Ever wonder why an author will write the best book you ever read, and then disappear? Or a band will turn out the Best Album Ever, but their next one Just Ain't All That?

It's  the Muses. But it's not really their fault. It's simple numbers.

Back in the day things were, if not easier (inspiration never is), simpler. Slower paced. I mean, how many people were actually putting things down in concrete form anyway? They could spend a lifetime with a Homer or a Sappho or a Shakespeare.

But then printing presses, and movable type, and publisher. And typewriters and word processors and computers and paint programs and and and-

There's a glut of creatives. So many, so very many of them. Far more than can be helped by the touch of a Muse. Who now stick with an artist for one project, and then flit away, drawn to the next. Their senses teased, tormented by another potential in the same city, the new artist's focus a drumbeat calling them away.

They don't rest any more. Often they don't stick with a full project; one awesome song, one brilliant piece of dialogue, one panel that stands out. Hollow eyed, trembling like they're on speed, they move on to the next. Like neverending spiritual triage.

And the worst thing is there's alternatives. So many other ways artists can get inspiration, correct their flaws, focus on the right things, develop themselves. They go to peers, join groups and classes, even write books.

I have one of those writing manuals here. It's OK, but this chapter on bringing emotional content into dialogue? It's brilliant. I’ll leave it here with you. Take a break and read it.

I mean, I guess what I'm trying to say is it's not you. Two books is an incredible run. So be happy with what you had.

Also...your heroine’s dialogue in Chapter 2...It really doesn't match her character.

Exit Stage Left, pursued by an author
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(Repost) Twenty-fourth Minor Spirit of October: That Guy

Oct. 28th, 2018 07:43 pm
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Twenty-Fourth Minor Spirit of October
That Guy
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

People react in different ways to encountering spirits for the first time. Terror is common. Bursts of religious fervor are frequent, though rarely last. Some just integrate it into their worldview and go on, and a few become obsessed with knowing more to the point of paranoia.

And then there's That Guy.

It wasn't enough that he had his atheistic worldview upended. After some furious thought, he got ideas. He wanted to do more than tell the world about spirits. We've had people like that before.

He wanted to monetize them.

Now don't get me wrong. Who in the know hasn't done an exorcism, raised or put down spirits for cash on the barrel-head? We live in a material (mostly) world.

But this guy, he was ambitious. More than 1-900 lines with spiritualists standing by, ready to bother dead relatives, he saw them being placed right into computers or smart phones. He wanted mass summonings and bindings for profit. He even thought of binding the souls of technicians into manikins or preserved corpses so they could continue working after death. He saw himself as the Peter Thiel of spiritualism, disrupting the ethereal world.

It wouldn't have worked of course; you know why the spirit world is a liminal experience, unsuitable for mass consumption. I told him so. But he wouldn't listen to warnings from someone like me.

So I did the only thing I could. I helped him.

A few hints, some instructions, ready with warnings if only he asked. But no, he fit some pieces together and ran with them. Ignoring the gaps in his knowledge. So he summoned spirits. Oh how he summoned spirits.

I hear they're making good progress with him. He's been able to sleep for fifteen minutes at a stretch now. He was even able to look briefly into a mirror the other day.

Pity about the time the lights went out all night
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(Repost) Twenty-third Minor Spirit of October: Blame it on the Frogs

Oct. 28th, 2018 02:38 am
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Twenty-third Minor Spirit of October
Blame it on the Frogs
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

Oh, so you HAVEN’T heard of the Green Lady of Lily Pond. Well. It’s a sad story.

When the lakes were sculpted for Golden Gate Park, she was happy to take up residence at Lily Pond. Though not the largest, people agreed that it was possibly the most beautiful bit of water in the city. Turtles sunned themselves on rocks, ducks paddled across the water, koi fish glided among the cattails. It seemed the perfect place for a spirit to begin her legend.

And it was. For a while, anyway.

There was something about the drainage, or the amount of sunlight, or SOMETHING off with the pond, that made things go wrong. Duckweed, and then algae covered it in a stinking green mat. Fish died, the ducks left, and people either hurried by or dumped trash into it.

And then there were the frogs. Oh Goddess, the frogs.

These weren't the cute little local peepers. These were African Clawed Frogs, huge with clawed legs, and a voracious appetite. Some idiot scientist dumped them in the pond after a research project went wrong, and they bred and multiplied. They ate the remaining fishes and turtles and everything else, and then started eating each other.

As we are what we eat, spirits are their homes. So as the pond changed, so did she. Her skin turned a mottled green-brown, her eyes became bulging orbs, her body bloated. Her hands and legs stretched out with grasping claws, and her appetite, well, let's not talk about that. From seductive lakeside spirit to a reclusive monster, the subject of late evening drunken nightmares.

Yes she’s miserable. And yes, she’s a danger to herself and others. We’re working on it, OK? We’ve managed to keep the damn toads from infesting the other ponds. We’re working on ways to bring everything back to normal. We’re going to put the pond and its spirit through rehab. It...may involve gallons of bleach. And draining the pond. And. And. And backhoes. We’re not quite sure what it’ll do to her.

That’s why for once we’re taking our time. Planning things out. Doing careful surveys. There’s no rush. I mean, we’ve kept her from devouring anyone. So far. We think.

So do you know where we can rehouse a few thousand frogs?

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(Repost) Twenty-second Minor Spirit of October: The Hunt

Oct. 28th, 2018 02:29 am
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Twenty-second Minor Spirit of October
The Hunt
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

You've never seen their passing, but you've heard the the howling of engines racing down the street this time of year. There's even a trace of the old primal fear, enough to cause a shiver as you lie in bed. But really, they aren't the same.

Horses are for the countryside, and obsolete; urban streets are no place for old methods. So, now they have steeds of metal to race on the streets. It could even seem a little poetic. But it just isn't the same.

New environments lead to new rules. And the tracks of asphalt and concrete have SO many rules. Yellow lines and white lines and turn lanes and stop lights - STOP Lights! The laws of humankind weigh heavily on the Hunt.

The red-eared hounds could not keep up, had to be diminished, shrunk until they fit in panniers and backpacks. They still yelp in silent fury. It really isn't the same.

And don't even ask about what they hunt, now. It's downright embarrassing, what prey you find in the city.

Still, you hear them gunning their engines in a wailing chorus these Autumn midnights, and you shiver.

They are no longer what they were. But you have to wonder what would happen if you met them on your bike.

I don't know either. But I'd rather you wait to try. I like having you here. And when you rev the engine on your bike, I hear an echo of that hunt.

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(Repost) Twenty-first Minor Spirit of October: The Night Song

Oct. 28th, 2018 02:14 am
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Twenty-first Minor Spirit of October
True Story
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.


At some point in a telling of spooky stories has to come a true story that happened to the author. This is my true story.

When i lived on the Mesa in Santa Barbara, across the main road from my neighborhood was a large gully slicing across two ridges, with a dry stream going all the way from Carrillo Street to the City College. Sandwiched between two subdivisions,  it was choked with chaparral, had little side canyons and groves, and was everything a active hyperactive teenager could want. I explored all of it, and was utterly fearless, whether it was poking my head into temporary caves made from storm runoff, or dashing through abandoned homeless camps.

Except for one place. The grove.

At the top of the gully where the streambed disappeared, there was a tiny meadow area surrounded by old eucalyptus trees. It was always cool and shaded and damp, even in late summer. Though it was only a few tens of yards down an embankment from a major access road, it was always quiet there, the hum of the city muted.

And it was mean. Angry.

Nothing ever happened to me there. I never saw or heard anything. But whenever I went through that place, the hairs on the back of my neck would raise, and I would get nervous. I couldn't escape the feeling that someone was watching me, silently angry that I was trespassing. I was reluctant to bend down under the low-hanging branches, lest the leaves touch me. Ants, or spiders might be on the branches, I said to myself. But the reality was I didn't want any plant there touching me.

As I said nothing ever happened to me there. But I made sure to never say there after sunset. And it was an odd thing; though it was a perfect sheltered camping spot,  i never saw the trash a homeless camp would leave behind.

A biologist might talk about subsonic sounds, or it might have just have been an imaginative teen letting fantasies run wild. That's what my rational mind says. But the primal side that reacts to danger? I think they're was something there that was angry and hateful.

Time passed. I grew up and moved away. And one day when i visited my relatives, i saw the canyon had been made into a park, except for the area where the grove had been- the trees had been cut down and it  was now a cul de sac with several houses in it.

I'm sure they're very nice houses. Expensive, though they have no view. Nice and private and quiet.

But you could not pay me to stay overnight  in one.

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(Repost) Twentieth Minor Spirit of October: The Night Song

Oct. 28th, 2018 02:04 am
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Twentieth  Minor Spirit of October
The Woman in Khaki
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

Of course you've heard about the Woman in White of Stow Lake. Possibly even the more tragic Green Woman of Lily Pond. But have you heard of the Woman in Khaki of Vasona Lake and Guadalupe Creek? I didn’t think so.

The story says that in foggy mornings, in places ranging from Vasona Park to the Los Gatos Creek recharge ponds, people will see a woman clad all in light tan, silently smoking a cigarette and scowling furiously. If approached or hailed, she will silently walk into the water, disappearing without a trace.

The legends behind the Woman in Khaki are pretty typical, involving a feckless fiance or husband, betrayal, suicide by drowning, you know the drill. Human minds really do run on predictable lines. And now, they say, of course, she's doomed to wander the lakeside. Or she will beckon to attractive young people from the water, inviting them to watery doom.

Which is nonsense of course. She’s too busy to lure people into the lake, even if there weren’t clearly posted signs saying ABSOLUTELY NO SWIMMING.Unlike her dilettante sisters up north, she has work to do. That whole area is her responsibility, and the water levels alone should be enough to worry about. But the flood control locks are constantly rusting, the PH in the ponds goes off, there’s algae blooms, and people insist on dumping their aquariums into the flood control basins. And then there's the geese.

Please. Don't ask about the geese.

My point is, she really has no time or patience for noisy messy people who cannot be bothered to read clearly lettered signs.

Still, she CAN be summoned or propiated. Go to her altar just as the sun touches the horizon, and make a sacrifice of a turbibimeter or ph meter, a box of unfiltered Marlborough's (no menthols), and a Manhattan cocktail in a biodegradable cup.

If it all goes well,  you may smell cigarette smoke and a voice will whisper from behind you. “Absolutely no swimming.” Do not turn around or say anything. Remain in a position of supplication until the smell fades and then back away without looking behind you until you reach the asphalt  road.

That should fix the problem your organic garden is having with it's drainage. Just remember,  she really does have a temper. Do you remember the big floods the other year? Where the entire creek basin was impassable?

I told them, unfiltered, no menthols. Really, some people.
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(Repost) Nineteenth Minor Spirit of October: Earthquake Boy

Oct. 28th, 2018 01:58 am
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Nineteenth Minor Spirit of October
Earthquake Boy
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

The stories all go the same way. Just before major earthquakes, people recount seeing a silent pale child in a upper story hallway of the skyscrapers in which they live; a boy who vanishes when approached. In San Francisco, the stories include the detail that he is dressed as i he was from the start of the 20th century.

People speculate that it is the ghost of someone who died in the 1906 earthquake, and who appears just before earthquakes to warn people. Similar stories show up Los Angeles, Japan, Italy- wherever large cities are built in earthquake prone areas.

They’re all nonsense, of course.

I mean, ghosts don’t even work that way. They can’t see the future. The answer’s much simpler than that.

You see, the spirit serpents that manifest as long cracks in the earth, mentally twitch before they wake up and cause earthquakes. These cause powerful psychic waves, that are focused by the metal frameworks of skyscrapers into a form that humans can briefly see, and then our primate minds interpret them as children. It’s just a quirk of our neurology.

See? Perfectly straightforward and logical.

So don’t worry. That kid you just saw wasn’t a ghost.
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(Repost) Eighteenth Minor Spirit of October: The Night Song

Oct. 28th, 2018 01:54 am
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Eighteenth Minor Spirit of October
Blink
Instead of Inktober, I'm doing a spirit a day for October.

Blink

That flash you see out of the corner of your eyes? Briefly lighting up the hillside? Wait for it...

Blink

That one. It isn't a broken transformer. It isn't the lights of a distract car, reflecting off the clouds.

Blink

Of course it's a lighthouse. Even if you didn't see it during the day. Or rather, it's the ghost of a lighthouse.

Blink

Is it so surprising? Something with so much importance and emotion and symbolism attached to it? Of course something would survive, even after the sea lanes changed, even after it was torn down.

Blink

All that's left is intent and the mission: to warn. To signal of land. On moonless, overcast nights it shines on empty sea and crowded land.

Blink

But it's the perverse nature of the spirit world that what it was in life, is reversed in death. Instead of warning away, it summons.

Blink

If you follow that flash of light, take the old trail down to the point, just above the reef, you may see the ship that signal is bringing in.

Blink

Perhaps they will invite you aboard. Though if you accept, you will never return to this life.

Blink




Blink

I'm sorry. It's the only escape I can offer.

Blink

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