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Friday, July 23, 2004

That was a waste of a week

Still nothing decided at work, so doomed to yet another week at least in the current limbo. At least next week I'll be spending two days at a training course on (irony is good for the blood) project management. So I won't be completely bored out of my skull, I guess.

Barely writing

It's getting late and I have to spend all tomorrow mulching leaves and cleaning the house for another open house. In order to make mild reparations for the last couple of days of non-productivity, I just forced myself to hammer out a little over the 400 word minimum on the novel (started a new scene, no idea where it's going, will probably head off on new tangent tomorrow). I think I'm past 75,000 words now, but it might only be 73 K.

Also finished sketching out some keywords to my Starship Manticore character, including ones for his profession (security specialist), his culture and his homeworld. It's a surprisingly easy system to work with, and broad strokes characterisation seems to work with it (just as well in my case). Here's what the cultural and homeworld keywords look like:

Chance’s Reach (Homeworld)

A waterworld in colonial space under the jurisdiction of Centaur (a core world). Settled more than 100 years ago, it has failed to provide significant economic benefits and has stagnated. Centaur has withdrawn most of its technical support, leaving No Chance (as it is often known) as a relative backwater (excuse the pun). Technology has stalled and little development takes place, although basic starport facilities are maintained – and anyone who can afford to is still able to leave more or less freely. Those that remain live in undertended ghettoes of barges, bridges, canals and freeways encircling a handful of volcanic island chains; these floating cities are called pelagra.

Typical Abilities: Operate watercraft; Operate sailcraft; Predict weather; Ocean survival; Navigate by stars; Swim long distances.

Personality Traits: Distrust Coreworlders; Hate Centaurs; Stoic; Fear advanced technology.

Typical Relationships: to Family; to Pelagra.

Bauerhan (Culture)

The Bauerhan are a cultural group made up of inhabitants of three proximate pelagra near the equator of Chance's Reach. They are born and raised tough, given their uncompromising surrounds. The Bauerhan existence mainly revolves around underwater mining operations picking at the submerged slopes of a string of mineral-rich volcanic islands, using out-of-date technology and unsafe operating techniques. Accidents are common, and the Bauerhan tend to appear unsympathetic and fatalistic to outsiders.

Abilities: Operate submersible craft; Worship Universalism; Spear fishing; Use SCUBA; Ride dolphin; Judge of dolphin flesh.

Personality Traits: Uncompromising; Fatalistic; No-nonsense.

Typical Relationships: to Universalist chapter; to Work teams.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. Jimbo and Chris will hopefully do similar writeups for their characters. I may post them all somewhere on the page later, as a game resource (if we get past more than one session, which in recent gaming memory has been a bit of a stumbling block). But now to bed, to dream of mulching and gaming and of finding the time to write another 25,000 words in the next three or so weeks...

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	Friday, July 23, 2004 That was a waste of a week Still nothing decided at work, so doomed to yet another week at least in the current limbo. At least next week I'll be spending two days at a training course on (irony is good for the blood) project management. So I won't be completely bored out of my skull, I guess. Barely writing It's getting late and I have to spend all tomorrow mulching leaves and cleaning the house for another open house. In order to make mild reparations for the last couple of days of non-productivity, I just forced myself to hammer out a little over the 400 word minimum on the novel (started a new scene, no idea where it's going, will probably head off on new tangent tomorrow). I think I'm past 75,000 words now, but it might only be 73 K. Also finished sketching out some keywords to my Starship Manticore character, including ones for his profession (security specialist), his culture and his homeworld. It's a surprisingly easy system to work with, and broad strokes characterisation seems to work with it (just as well in my case). Here's what the cultural and homeworld keywords look like: Chance’s Reach (Homeworld) A waterworld in colonial space under the jurisdiction of Centaur (a core world). Settled more than 100 years ago, it has failed to provide significant economic benefits and has stagnated. Centaur has withdrawn most of its technical support, leaving No Chance (as it is often known) as a relative backwater (excuse the pun). Technology has stalled and little development takes place, although basic starport facilities are maintained – and anyone who can afford to is still able to leave more or less freely. Those that remain live in undertended ghettoes of barges, bridges, canals and freeways encircling a handful of volcanic island chains; these floating cities are called pelagra. Typical Abilities: Operate watercraft; Operate sailcraft; Predict weather; Ocean survival; Navigate by stars; Swim long distances. Personality Traits: Distrust Coreworlders; Hate Centaurs; Stoic; Fear advanced technology. Typical Relationships: to Family; to Pelagra. Bauerhan (Culture) The Bauerhan are a cultural group made up of inhabitants of three proximate pelagra near the equator of Chance's Reach. They are born and raised tough, given their uncompromising surrounds. The Bauerhan existence mainly revolves around underwater mining operations picking at the submerged slopes of a string of mineral-rich volcanic islands, using out-of-date technology and unsafe operating techniques. Accidents are common, and the Bauerhan tend to appear unsympathetic and fatalistic to outsiders. Abilities: Operate submersible craft; Worship Universalism; Spear fishing; Use SCUBA; Ride dolphin; Judge of dolphin flesh. Personality Traits: Uncompromising; Fatalistic; No-nonsense. Typical Relationships: to Universalist chapter; to Work teams. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Jimbo and Chris will hopefully do similar writeups for their characters. I may post them all somewhere on the page later, as a game resource (if we get past more than one session, which in recent gaming memory has been a bit of a stumbling block). But now to bed, to dream of mulching and gaming and of finding the time to write another 25,000 words in the next three or so weeks... 0 smartarse remarks Post a Comment 0 Comments:

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