Fortress of Perpetual Midnight

You probably haven't noticed, but I moved some old Project Homuncupunk background write-ups to the wiki. (I haven't moved the part about the Templars' armaments, as I need to update that information more heavily to fit my current idea.) This was just while I was at it writing a bit of new stuff for Project Artificer.

Although there's only that much to show you, most of the ideas there lately are comprised of a lot of new ideas for characters (mostly to increase the yuri factor—maybe enough to get me to actually fix that instead of messing around with Homuncupunk and AnthraXX so much). Sadly, there's not much to show for them without telling you what happens.* I can say that the story is suffering from the fact that it's all about the supporting characters and has little to do with the chief protagonists. Of course, since I'm going to have to rework the entire thing, I might just change who's in the middle. In any case, I did at least keep the head count down (far too little, far too late?) by using one I already had (who happens to be famous) to become "Slash" (since it didn't make any sense for her to have a Latin name in a world where the language never existed). Her personality and appearance have changed quite a bit in the process, but since all is widely known is rumor, the information given isn't specific enough that you'd see any of that evolution (other than the name). Incidentally, I never knew the origin of the term until I looked it up; I guess that means in Japanese it'd be "kakeru." (I'm somewhat bothered by the slang definitions, but I doubt they would be among the first three that come to mind for the target audience.)

Another new character ends up replacing the other point in the love triangle around the Lady Deléa (also famous). A problem there is that under the current society, that would mean both he and Áeleran would have to be of the same house (since they were both considered possible suitors for the lady). That's not so bad, as the new idea is that they be House Blue[Hock]brush, and there's space for a lot of variety in unarmed combat, but like Hōshin Engi, Artificer's gimmick is magic items, and thus I'd want to focus on weapon styles. A more widespread problem is the fact that, judging by D&D, a pre-industrial small city boasts a population numbering only in the thousands, which means if you have more than a half-dozen noble houses, each one would have a very small gene-pool. Of course, the Bridgefolk are the quintessential frail aristocrats of the Pale Sea, so maybe that fits. I think the main reason I said they didn't mix was the hereditary birthmarks on their foreheads, but since those were added by the high elves millennia ago using necromancy, I could just as well say they still maintain their integrity when interbred (which would make an interesting phenomenon where a mixed couple's children would be separated depending on which House's mark each manifests). Speaking of which, the debased markings of the River Rats are probably the only feature of humans in the Pale Sea that doesn't commonly appear in real-world humans as far as I know, which is something they normally don't do for some reason even in fantasy (with the notable exception here)—but since humans are supposed to be the most adaptable and varied race, I think that fits, too.

*It has been mentioned that the information I post about my projects is pretty incomprehensible outside the context of the stories (which will not be ready anytime in the foreseeable future because I don't know how to draw). My social worker suggested that I might post scripts as I did with prose drafts, but considering that any I've written are for my use alone, the stage directions may not be sufficient for comprehension. It might be nifty if someone read my scripts and offered to draw them for me, but I'm still not too keen on the idea of trying to collaborate with a stranger. In any case, all I've got is a pathetic fancomic about MYTHBUSTERS (since blitzcon offered to do some image edits for me, then never replied to either of the emails) and most of one of my shorts (which would have to be kept members-only, since I'm supposedly entering it in a contest and handing over the rights, so I don't want to take the very small risk of someone stealing it).

Edit (2008.08.18): Added links

As if I weren't busy enough with my application and more equipment training, apparently the stress caused my mind to wander, because I suddenly stumbled upon another really stupid coincidence (or Freudian slip?) that I should have noticed long ago. As you know, I have two projects that are set in a setting closely based upon the real world. You may not notice because of the omissions, but there are exactly three native Japanese characters among the many dozens of characters I'm currently developing for those two projects. And all three are lesbians.

「今さら何ほざいてんだてめえ」とは言われそうだから言っておくが・・・*

As noted in the first paragraph of the previous link, I don't write lesbian stories. I write yuri. Judging by the notes I'm keeping in my head, of those many dozens of characters, those are the only three lesbian-identified individuals I have planned. So how the hell did this happen? To tell the truth, in all three cases, I just made them Japanese because of the names I thought up for them. (It's not as much of a coincidence as it might have been, as the two from Project AnthraXX are connected in terms of their background.) As noted in the disclaimers, I don't have any intentions of perpetuating stupid stereotypes (even ones I accidentally made up myself), and I certainly didn't do this on purpose. It just goes to show that I don't pay much of any attention to how my projects end up looking, which means I'm just going to get even more flak as I release any of this stuff. I really need to look more carefully at these things before they are (hypothetically) published.

Meanwhile, as with the other night, I'm putting myself on a slippery slope trying to bring up half-remembered lines off the top of my head and using them as post subtitles. I've read both of those at least half a dozen times, but they're really dipping into the archives; I'm not sure if I've even opened either volume in several months, much less read those chapters. At least one of them I plan to check at some point to corroborate something else I vaguely remembered, so hopefully I'll use that opportunity to correct myself. Being obsessive-compulsive is rather dumb sometimes.

*Yeah, another line that I'm too lazy to try and figure out how to say in English. It's not terribly important to the so-called flow of my blabbing, so those of you who can't read it don't need to feel left out.

Edit (2008.05.03): Fixed vowel length and punctuation in the quote

Unusually enough for me, Project Cow Level has no sex in it, as I didn't have any interest in having such content in a story about tauren and dwarves. While I'm at it, I'm considering keeping the violence to (MPAA) PG as well. That may be difficult for one of my adventure-based (type B) projects, but we'll see.

Meanwhile, as I've mentioned before, Projects Umbra and Homuncupunk are coming to have more and more sex, while Project AnthraXX is coming to have more and more story, thus blurring the gap between A and B. Consequently, AnthraXX is probably the most ready of my original projects, owing primarily to the fact that its setting is heavily based on the real world, thus preventing me from needing to create mecha designs from scratch. Of course, it's still quite controversial, but at least there's plot to thin out the sex and I don't portray YHWH in quite such a bad light. I also think that the witches' and demons' subplot doesn't overpower the main story about the protagonist and heroine, but it's still tangential enough that I haven't completely thrown out the idea of making it a separate project.

In other previews, I've thought about vague subtitles for the three story arcs of Project Homuncupunk:

Part One: The Bounty Hunter
Part Two: The Prodigal Son
Part Three: The Emissary

I chopped the first two down to one word each for better parallelism. The subtitles reflect Jūzaburō's role in the story. ("So, what's with the second one if he turns coat at the beginning?" you might ask. Now that would be telling, wouldn't it?) Riku's backstory relates mostly to the first story arc, but the second half of it has a spoiler for something in the middle of "The Hunter," so where I include that will depend on how long each volume runs. I'm also not quite sure about the wording for the third part (and can't explain without spoiling it), but there's plenty of time to think about that.

I'm thinking of also making Project AnthraXX in three parts, corresponding with the three trimesters of Ms. Brown's freshman year. These would likely be short enough that one volume of the hard copies could be devoted to each, with one extra story as an extra for each. I don't have subtitles for the trimesters, as I don't know quite where the breaks will be, but the first two extras are currently known as "Time-Gilded Paradise Lost" and "The Dark of Gomorrah"; I'm not so sure about the third, as it doesn't really seem to add anything to the series.

My readership appears to be at an all-time high (apparently at least two regulars!), but I've accumulated quite a lot of stuff during its absence, to say nothing of my sloth and the fact that I've built up a lot of new things due to year's-end-and-beginning splurging. So, I'd like to see if you have any requests or suggestions. What I've got in the works is as follows:

( Ridiculously long notes )

One of the main things I'd forgotten earlier also relates to the too much sex stuff. The problem I was seeing was that, in Project AnthraXX, the main storyline is the relationship between Ms. Brown and Ms. Canina. Although I plan for this one to be rather short (less than one year's in-story time), I want to include appropriate pacing. I don't want them to get to home plate right off the bat. (An important part of Ms. Canina's character is that she moves quickly, but I decided that one of Ms. Brown's few unique qualities* is her ability to resist this, mostly because of her beliefs.) However, again, I have no sense of subtlety, so I make sure to start off with quite a bit of obvious chemistry. I just happened to think of an appropriately kinky way to extend this. Ironically enough, while my mind wandered at work later, I thought of an expansion to that idea that actually serves to illustrate the relationship on an emotional rather than physical level, which is hard for me to do without such gimmicks.

*She does seem to be a bit of an "everywoman" character, which makes it unusual of me to be putting this one from her point of view (although I've seen that premise countless times in Japanese stories), when I thought of the more iconic characters of Ms. Faust and Ms. Canina earlier in the design process. At least she personally takes part in the main story, unlike Ishmael, Caraway, and their ilk.

I also thought up another idea for a cheesy fan-pic. That list is getting longer and longer; one of these days, I may actually get around to trying to draw again. For individual illustrations, I may be able to get them right just by trial and error.

For some reason, it took me until I was reading this interview (spoilers) to realize that my two leads in Project AnthraXX have altogether too much in common with those of STRANGERS IN PARADISE—Ms. Canina's mob background, combat skills, and promiscuity; and Ms. Brown's reluctance due to religious upbringing and "good-girl" nature. I use them in very different ways, but I doubt that the similarities would be missed (despite the fact that I hadn't noticed before) if I ever managed to get AnthraXX published. And these are all details that I had decided before I had even heard of the earlier series. This makes my idea of using certain elements from it in different ways sound even more like plagiarism. . . .

I've recently made some updates to my projects database. It has also come to my attention that I'm not allowed to give you access to this information unless you join the group. Considering the glitch that stops you from editing files after a while, I may go back to just typing locally and uploading the stuff to my HP, but for the moment you can join freely, even if you don't have a Yahoo! account, and I promise not to spam you.

In terms of the actual updates, one of the most significant is the addition of two more projects: Necropunk and Perfect Score (20/20). The former is the one I mentioned earlier; the latter is my dream of making a better RPG (with a lot of background to the name), generalized for broader appeal. Of course, no one's going to use it unless I get professional marketing or at least become a Web celeb.

I also added another two fields. One is just a brief and rough summary of what each story actually is. The other is the most important theme(s) on which each project is based. Yuri on its own is not specific enough, although it is a part of "Kokuba no Ōji-sama" "modified harem," "alien human society," "counterculture," and at least one other that would be a spoiler. In most cases, I'm trying to do things that I haven't seen before, including challenging or altering common stereotypes and showing societies that are foreign to our viewpoint.

The new Project Necropunk is a shading example of this. The key design strategy (other than cool undead paraphernalia) was to depict a benevolent necromantic society, as I've never seen much of a depiction of undead creation that wasn't evil (with the exception of Abarrach. This gives us perhaps the most alien society of any of these, despite the fact that the people are, by blood, at least half human.

Use of human remains as slaves, trophies, tools, and so on is common in fantasy. However, I want to push this one to the limit and show ethical cannibalism as well. Despite the massive stigma in our society, cannibalism is, under logical morality, a victimless crime; however, like incest, it is often associated with a hideous atrocity, in this case murder. Killing others without just cause is, particularly in this dying land, a felony, but the dead are used to maintain what is left, and the remains of great people are valued highly.

Of course, this also makes the story even more controversial than the others (except maybe AnthraXX)—Even the parts about romantic and/or sexual relationships between blood relatives have never been central to a project. I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to publish it, and I don't know if I'd ever get anyone willing to read it.

By the way, I'm not intending on including anything like necrophilia or vorarephilia. I'm not interested in such things, and they don't serve any real purpose.

Ever since Mikazuki Yoriko's introduction of homunculi nourished by humans' ambient animic energy during the Panpolic War, the drain on the souls of the citizens of Mannheim has only increased, causing people to become more and more sluggish and apathetic. This phenomenon is known as the Shikimoto Effect, named for the Mikazuki Co. researcher who first examined it in detail. Shikimoto's demographic studies also corroborated suspicions that female humans are significantly stronger of anima then males on average.

Shikimoto further developed a hypothesis of why women would be superior in this way. Her basis was the source of human psychic ability: crossbreeding with daimons. Apparently, female children's animae are more closely related to those of their mothers, grandmothers, and so on. As most daimons capable of interbreeding with humans prefer to take female form, they are more likely to pass on greater animic strength to female descendants.

The reason that foxes and hags usually assume female guises is a matter of efficiency. Both are harvester daimons, whose MOs rely on using disguise to infiltrate human society. It has been judged through certain studies that, of all combinations, male humans are most easily duped by females, due to their hormones overriding their brainwaves; consequently, a female form is the most likely to produce good results.

However, as an effect of that effect, the cause has been changing. Women are now typically more animically powerful than men, making them more valuable targets. However, the fact that women have greater strength of personality means that they are becoming, in general, more attractive to other women as well as men. Consequently, a harvester taking female form can often have her pick of the prey of both sexes.

It seems somewhat counterintuitive that beings that do not normally reproduce sexually would be able to crossbreed. Shapechangers such as foxes and hags are apparently able to imitate human form to the point of fully functioning reproductive systems, while virtues retain these characteristics from when they were human. In contrast, valkyries have human-appearing natural forms, but do not appear to be able to reproduce in this way.

From my research, I found out that I was mixing up Übermensch with the Master Race. The real version is a good correlation to my own philosophy (and that of my "perfect" character from another project).

Meanwhile, I've posted information on daimons on the page. I don't know why it wasn't out there before. Admittedly, it isn't coded to HTML standards, but that didn't stop me in the case of the psychics doc. You'll notice that all daimons are taken from various mythologies with my own spin on them. I also translated the names of the Asian ones to make them seem more integrated—but that doesn't make as much sense, now that Japanese is one of the five main languages of the setting. It would be most logical to translate each race's name to the holy language of its patron, but that would be a pain in the ass. As you can see, I assigned their allegiances by function and theme rather than origin.

As mentioned before:

The Mikazuki Corporation is split into a number of departments that deal with the business, including Accounting, Custodial, HR, Mangetsu, Marketing, R&D, Retail, Security, Shipping, Stocking, and Troubleshooting. There are also numerous lesser companies that it controls, most significantly the Waterworks.

THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Apparently I stilled missed a few things on my second try, so I guess I'll just have to keep nesting prefixes until I'm satisfied.

First of all, I've been worried for a while that having Isabel as Riku's maid comes a bit too close to the African slaves thing that was so big in the U.S. (and in Britain, too, judging by the movie CMs I saw over the summer). (I did like the fact that flower＊flower in YuriHime S gives a counterpoint.) Adding Ms. Itoya, whose skin is even darker, might only aggravate the problem. However, there are two mitigating factors. First, Ms. Itoya has more of the demeanor of an executive than a servant, as she has to manage the rest of the Templars. Also, the fact that I've added the rest of the Brides means that the two dusky ones are now middle management. Unfortunately, as named characters, they're a lot more visible than their subordinates, so the thematic prejudice appears to remain. We'll see whether I have to do anything else about that.

Also, it might appear odd that the senior member of the Templars is in charge of such mundane things as uniforms and armaments. However, the fact is that this was a tradition long before Riku added civilian members for cooking and cleaning. No one questions Ms. Itoya's physical or animistic capabilities, either.

The Templars' signature armaments are the bastard sword and heater shield. Besides the iconic image provided by this archaic gear, it also fits well with their duty of protecting the Mangetsu Spire itself. In a typical corridor in Mikazuki HQ, a three-wide shield-wall of élite Templars provides a much higher concentration of might than most any intruders could bring to bear. The standard-issue shield is just large enough to cover the wielder's body in a crouch while still allowing a bearer with enhanced physical strength to utilize reasonable maneuverability in tight spaces. An opening in one side is designed for thrusting with the sword or firing a shotgun (another weapon useful in close quarters) carried as a sidearm.

Despite the standard-issue equipment and formal training, Templars are highly skilled individuals, and they are encouraged to take advantage of their own propensities. A prime example is their Deaconess, Itoya Angel. She is of a bloodline in which Yoriko has long been perfecting the shaping skill. Angel herself specializes in crafting of textiles, and shows it in a fight, where she relies on monowire and adaptive armor.

Incidentally, you may note that I mentioned the Mikazuki Board of Directors in the original post. This is a new idea I've been developing, so I'll expand on it later.

I think in terms of comic books, so I come up with a lot of dialogue when I'm planning my projects. I'm thinking that I should start typing actual scripts so I can have a record of the lines before I forget. The current plot synopses are kept on the computer in the bedroom, but I should probably move them to Mother's, which I actually use. With a job like this, I'm not going to be getting my own Internet connection anytime soon.

Addenda to the previous:

The long-standing tradition of the Brides is to have them spawned and trained as Temple Knights ("Templars"). Although they lack the budget to have them built as vampires in most cases, they are otherwise designed by Yoriko to the same standards as the Troubleshooters themselves. As such, the Templars are strong rivals to the more ordinary Security Department. Deaconess Itoya Angel is the current ranking member of the order.

In d20 terms, a typical Templar would be a low- to mid-level Heroic character (usually focusing on the physical classes) with higher ability scores than usual due to the design process (CR 3–7).

Since the organization has gone public, however, individuals of other bloodlines who have not been trained to the same standards are also accepted. These have been dubbed the Shrine Maidens ("Maids")—although certainly not maidens in at least one sense of the term. They are generally used for housework, although some of them may have combat training background, often with the Security Department. Many of the Templars see the Maids as upstarts, particularly as the current High Priestess is a member of this order, but Angel counsels acceptance and cooperation as per their mistress's will.

The Maids come from a greater variety of backgrounds, but are most commonly low-level Dedicated Ordinaries.

Also, I've noticed that both of the two highest-ranking members of the cult have darker-than-average skin. This might be seen to be a sign of Riku's tastes, but is actually a coincidence due to certain design elements that I chose for those two—The Gray Wolf is likely to stick her paws anywhere she can find two X-chromosomes in one body.

The Brides of the Gray Wolf are a sub-Great-Lord cult known within Mikazuki as the Mangetsu Department. In addition to being a religious group and a company department, they are trained as élite soldiers and organized as a harem. Until recently, they were a secret organization, but now recruit outside the company as well.

The group was created by Mikazuki Yoriko after the Firstborn Coup. When the fighting died down and there were no more rebels to kill, TS6 Riku "Six-Shooter" had lost the purpose for which she was spawned. The Board agreed that they could not sate her by sacrificing other lives, so Yoriko made another attempt to utilize a portion of Riku's anima that had been encoded in her originally, but in practice turned out to be suppressed by her overactive killer instinct. Thus, she created the Brides of the Gray Wolf from the flesh and animae of Riku herself and Yoriko's then-assistant, one Shikimoto Iris, who was judged to have similar romantic and carnal tastes to Riku's. The first initiates swore themselves, body and anima, to Riku with a sacrifice of their own blood under the full moon. Since then, they have been the guardians of Yoriko's most dangerous creation.

Over the ensuing two centuries, many generations of Brides served in the Mangetsu Spire, a temple converted from the portion of the Mikazuki HQ extending above the Skyline. Yoriko continued to spawn them using the original material and samples from others in order to keep them genetically diverse and robust. (It is believed that Kurenai Nishin, secretary to the Bounty Hunters' Guildmistress, is related to one of these bloodlines.) The Brides' loyalty has come to be something of a worship of Riku as a saint or demigoddess, a messianic figure who slew the traitor vampires and was lying in wait for her destiny to devour their leader when he returned.

All this changed when Riku encountered Isabel ____ and developed her second persona. Isabel alone was able to keep Riku under control and teach her to function in human society. Nonetheless, the new Riku was happy to keep the Brides as well, not only to wait on her, but also to serve as a power group to rival the CEO, Mikazuki Otohiko, within the company. With the aid of her mother, Yoriko, she expanded recruitment to include any who were willing. Otohiko resented the fact that Riku had taken his daimondaughter and now could use her to control him.

The Brides were shaken up considerably with the return of the former TS1, Kazuyoshi "Firstborn." His attempts at vengeance resulted in a greater rate of attrition among the Brides than there had ever been since their founding. However, his death caused perhaps an even greater shake-up within the group, as it was at the hands of TS13 Jūzaburō "Baker," Yoriko's latest whelp. Many of the Brides resent the upstart for his stealing of the Gray Wolf's prey, as does Riku herself to some degree. Isabel was quick to counsel against killing within the family, but it remains to be seen how well her remonstrations will hold now that the young one has turned coat himself. . . .

Mikazuki Isabel (formerly Isabel ____) is the daughter of Mikazuki's previous Chief of Security, Lemuel ____. Her baptism was sponsored by Mikazuki Otohiko himself; however, she was taken into the family by his niece, Riku. She is now the Consort (High Priestess) of the Gray Wolf, and the one individual closest to Riku herself.

Itoya Angelina is, as were her mother and grandmother before her, the Steward (Deaconess) of the Gray Wolf, working as quartermaster for the cult. She is the eldest of the current Brides and does not appear to question her place as Riku's second-favorite.

Notes: I intend to adjust the timeline in the Mannheim section of the files to reflect the changes I've made in the back-story. Also, I didn't call Ms. Itoya the "Stewardess" because I thought that had the wrong connotations.

Edit (2007.10.01): Changed a name

I'm ready to type up a description of the Brides of the Gray Wolf. I'd also like to write information about how vampires spawn, but I'm getting caught on the details. Unlike traditional vampires, they are living creatures developed through research, so I'd prefer if I could find pseudo-physiological reasons for their idiosyncrasies. Key points:

1. They have some problem with producing blood, requiring them to receive supplements from outside sources. This comes from the daimonic tissue samples used to create the vampirism nanohomunculus, and is probably Dr. Mikazuki's way of adapting daimons' method of nourishing their immortal forms by feeding on human animae to a more cheaply sustainable system.

2. Vampirism is contracted simply by consuming a vampire's blood into a human (or, theoretically, mostly human) body. However, unless the body meets rigorous specifications, this will result in severe circulatory problems and a truncated lifespan. I would like it if it would cause bulging blood vessels like the Claymores when they use their yōma powers, or, now that I think of it, Yukishiro Enishi from RuroKen when he overloads, but I think that would mean that they have extremely high blood pressure, which doesn't fit very well with point 1. Perhaps vampires actually do produce blood, but it's defective, or something.

I know I won't get much medical help out of you liberal arts and computer science majors, but I like typing about this stuff.