Fortress of Perpetual Midnight

In my adventures, I discovered the Word of Power that could destroy all existence: "Th." Of course, it was only valid if voiced starting in the 12th tone and glissandoed to the 13th, but it was still dangerous knowledge.

This was of course an upshot from researching the name of the protagonist of another (than the one I mentioned*) short story I happened to think up on Wiktionary. I am aware that, having never learned a language where tone is particularly important, I have no idea how to pronounce it, but that's true for pretty much anyone saying a name from a language he doesn't know. (I chose which pronunciation to use for each character just for variety, and I couldn't even post the "ǔ" correctly in the table because it only allows ASCII characters.) It's also related to fantasy's concept of Words of Power, as seen in such media as Project Artificer, Book of Vile Darkness, and a classic example of Rich Burlew claiming that Wizards are idiots because he changed the rules to make less sense.

*As you can see, I'm planning to post follow-up thoughts on the first one and an introduction to the second.

I didn't end up having enough time for a crunchier post, but here's a simple meme, modified so I can do it:

- Comment[,] and I'll give you a letter.
- You'll then have to list 10 things you love [like] that begin with that letter.
- You may choose to do it at your journal or leave a comment here.
- Afterward, post this in your journal and give out some letters of your own.

My answers (I):

. Iconoclasm
. Independence
. Information
. Inhumanity
. Inquisitor
. The Internet
. Invention
. Iron
. I-TAMA
. Ms. Iwami Shōko's works

I'll fill in the links later.

Contrary to the title, this is not another post about downloading bootlegs—at least not primarily.

I finally managed to get hold of my new job coach a few weeks ago and set up an appointment. I went in without any clear idea of what to do, hoping to ask her for advice, so she sent me home to codify my criteria and think about what kind of job I'd want. Consequently, I've made a few rough notes based on my experience so far:

1. The most immediate and obvious criterion is that I need enough money to be able to afford a home. Judging by the low-end rents I've seen in the paper I assemble, I would be able if I stepped up to full time at my current just-above-minimum wage, but for the rest of the reasons, that would just be even worse.

2. There are two problems that both are detrimental to my long-term health and really tick me off. The first is that the work environment is incredibly loud. This is rather inevitable for a factory job, of course. It also results in the facts that no one can understand what anyone else is saying (in my case due to my ADD making it difficult to discern individual voices from background noise, in the others' because they've suffered so much hearing damage already due to their job and their music-listening lifestyles), which requires that they yell incoherently at each other all the time, and that the alert signals all have to be even louder and more ear-piercing due to high pitch so that they aren't missed in the cacophony.

The second is more of a morality issue. The workplace is smoke-free, but workers are encouraged to smoke right outside the entrances, including when the garage doors are open, and they generally smoke just before getting to work, both of which meaning I have to breathe their second-hand smoke if I'm nearby. About half the workers (including three of the four supervisors) smoke at least one cigarette every couple of hours. As you know, I particularly hate smoking not just because it's harmful, but because it has no purpose other than as a poison. However, U.S. law protects the right of smokers to poison others, and even beyond my policy*, I prefer to avoid complaining about it within earshot. In my experience, smokers are, on average, even more bad-tempered than others with whom I've spent time, and the last two to whom I've mentioned that I didn't like it claimed that it was my own fault and that I was making fun of him, respectively.

3. The fact that almost no one there gives a damn about doing even the bare minimum makes my own apathy even stronger. (I tried to wean them off my picking up after them before my trip, but we'll see about the results when I get back tonight.) I imagine this stems from the fact that it's a horrible job. There's also the fact that the company apparently can't even afford to tell us even the most basic things about stuff that we're supposed to do, so learning is mostly by educated guess. This is no doubt due to the fact that annual employee turnaround appears to be about 200%, again stemming from the fact that it's an awful job. I haven't bothered to call them on these things because of my policy*, which is reinforced by the fact that some people get extremely ticked off if I try to do my own job efficiently.

4. The fact that I have to be heavily sedated to sleep puts quite a damper on my life when working graveyard. Most significantly, I have difficulty getting to appointments (including the job coach) and stores while they're open. (In the latter case, essentials such as food and drugs are usually available 24-7, but I do like to go to stores that are actually interesting, such as hobby shops and bookstores, once in a while.) Of course, most jobs are available during the day; this current one just happens to be a morning paper about events the day before.

Just to break up the large block of text, I'll talk about my current prospects (such as they are) in a separate post.

*As you can see from the Cool Hand Luke (which I've never seen) quote in my notes, I was planning on typing an entire post about how it doesn't seem to be worth it to let anyone know about any opinion I may have unless that anyone happens to be a close friend. To sum up, it's been my experience that doing so just ticks him off, causes him to be if anything more opposed to my view (either out of spite, perverseness, or the fact that he respects me so little that he feels my opinions are automatically ineligible), and adds to the ongoing friction between us. When combined with the fact that I find arguing very hurtful, this comes to my admittedly dysfunctional policy. Hopefully if I manage to find coworkers who have less negative attitudes than the people around here, the people on the LG Yahoo! Group, the people on daily_yuri, etc., I will be able to work better. Otherwise, I just have to keep thinking about what to do about it myself.

I looked at cast roll for the new Lord of the Rings movies. For some reason, it was separated in two sections: one for characters who were played by only one actor each, and one for those who were played by more than one each. The first section had only five characters listed: the Nine Walkers, minus the four hobbits.

Edit (2007.02.26): Also, Figwit was on the second list.

This is of course not consistent with the waking world, as almost everyone, even Sméagol, was played by a single actor, excepting stunt and size doubles. The only exceptions that come to mind are the Nazgûl, who were voiced by Andy Serkis.

On the topic of movies, I've just run across another meme, which is also a quiz. Sadly, I hardly watch movies, and the few that I've bothered to rewatch tend to be the geek "bibles," so any quotes from them would be easily identified, so I don't know whether I can make it have a point.

Edit (2008.06.20): I've taken a stab.

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.

1. Comment if you want questions.

2. I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better.

3. Update your LJ with the answers to the questions.

4. Include this explanation and offer to ask someone else in your own post.

5. When others respond, you will ask them five questions.

This will take some time, so I'm just starting with one from phoenix_talon, who seems to have responded more quickly than lordjubatus:

1. Being that you seem to have watched as many different anime as I have watched other shows, if you could suggest just one for me to seek out an watch, what would it be?

Interesting. Let us begin by judging your tastes. I know that you are particularly fond of Eva and Trigun, two very different series. In other spheres, you are also known as a Trekkie and a role-player.

It has been years since I paid attention to such mainstream series as you, but there has been one incredibly popular series that I have flagged in recent years. That is, of course, BLEACH. It's a series that focuses on super-powered badasses fighting, which is about the best I can do. It may perhaps be a bit too far in that direction, as it's aimed toward the teen bracket, and serialized in Shōnen Jump, no less, meaning it's a really bloody long series with a huge number of characters. However, that's the best I've been able to get based on my limited knowledge of you and my limited knowledge of Japanese animation.

The other four questions will follow [2 4 5 3]. Meanwhile, any of you who want me to get to know you better can respond to the meme. (I personally prefer this method to bathing with my friends.) To tell the truth, of most of my friends I know so little that I'd have trouble thinking of five questions, but I'll try.

Ha. I figured that out on my own years ago without help from any Aussies.

It's surprising how much of how the world works is pretty obvious once you think about it. I figured out why there are sonic booms on my own, too.

Things I should really type up and post here in the near future:

*My new character ideas [Done]

*Strangers in Paradise Pocket Book 1 [Done]

*Whining about semantic drift (once I get my IME back) [Done]

As some of you may have noticed, I recently bought a Dreamcast from arifyn. I was going to play Shenmue first, but as it happened, I didn't figure out how to start up the system until I had switched the disc to ETERNAL ARCADIA, so I ended up starting there. Anyway, I imagine that since arifyn has played the same game, there's a fair chance that someone will actually read this post.

For the rest of you, ETERNAL ARCADIA is the game on which the English-language SKIES OF ARCADIA is based. The idea of a world where international travel is dominated by airships reminds me a lot of L A S T E X I L E (although the game came first). This also brings one of the unique elements to the game: there are numerous ship-to-ship battles as well as the typical "RPG" hand-to-hand fare.

These naval combats are also one of the things that I never did really figure out. In each round, there is a display predicting what the enemy ship will do in each of the four actions available, so the heroes can react accordingly. For instance, a red box shows that the enemy will use one of its most powerful attacks on that action, while a special mark shows when there will be a chance to use the heroes' ship's ultimate weapon. But there are also yellow and green boxes and a "C!" mark, and I never understood how those work. Nor do I know why attacks will sometimes be "lost," or what benefit there is to using support crew members. Nonetheless, once you get a badass ship and the proper kōjutsu to heal it fully with one action, it's a piece of cake to outlast the enemy.

Personal combat immediately reminded me of GRANDIA II, as characters move dynamically around the battle area as they fight. However, there is very little tactical use of this movement, as you can't control where the characters move, and everyone has a mêlée and a ranged attack that do the exact same thing. There are attacks that affect a certain area, but they're only effective if the character can reliably act first in initiative, which is a bit iffy even for Ms. Aika. It took me a while to figure out that waza don't require KP to activate, but after that battle was a lot easier, because Guts refill automatically based on how many characters you have active. However, Ms. Faina still has little to do in many combats, because her waza don't include very effective attacks, and her Cupil weapon/familiar thingy is really puny regardless of how many cham you feed it. In fact, it's usually not worth her attacking, as there is always a large chance of a counterattack, which never misses. Incidentally, it wasn't until the fourth-to-last boss that I figured out how to revive unconscious characters, probably due to the fact that I couldn't read the difference between "except unconsciousness" and "including unconsciousness." Consequently, the "challenge again" function when you die saw a lot of use.

The only problem I really had with gameplay was the fact that it takes forever to get around the skies, and forever again to get back if you went to the wrong place (as I often did). It's even worse when you have to search for the location you're seeking, which means combing all the land in the area while repeatedly hitting the A button. Wandering monster encounters are as annoying as they always were, particularly when you've played games that don't have them, like GRANDIA II and CHRONO TRIGGER.

In terms of presentation, I have to give the creators kudos for forgoing FMVs and most voice, as this helps to mitigate the disk-space problem of the CD generation of console systems. It still ended up taking two discs, which means that a lot of places are duplicated on both CDs because you can go to them in both halves of the game, but it's still better than FINAL FANTASY VII at three, with all to show for it a bunch of slightly blurry videos. Admittedly, the few catch-phrases that were voiced seemed a bit odd, particularly when the voice says something that doesn't appear in the text.

In terms of theme, it's your typical save-the-world thing. I am a bit irritated by the somewhat subservient roles women have in the game. The only two matriarchal groups in it are the "evil" nation and one pirate ship whose entire purpose is chasing after a man (with "-sama"-zuke). The wives of pirate captains don't even have names of their own. In the PC party, it's treated as a given that Vice (Weiβ?) is in charge because he's the main character. I especially dislike the fact that the one attempted rape scene is played for comedic effect. Sadly, that's a fairly common thing in Japanese media; you can't even read the Slayers novels or comics without running into something like that.

Incidentally, this is another setting to add to the "map is just a modified Earth" category about which I complained earlier. Most of the six continents are based on real-world continents in both geography and culture. I decided to briefly examine the stereotypes here:

Valois (Europe) is the location where yellow gekkōseki fall, which has given it the power of electricity and thus the most advanced technology in the world. I don't know whether it's storm clouds or smog that blocks out the sky, but it does give the continent the "evil" look. The society is rather Industrial-Revolution-looking, with a large gap in financial classes. It's mentioned that there was once a tradition of chivalry, but it's pretty much forgotten now. Despite the French name of the continent/nation (assuming I Romanized it correctly), most residents seem to have Italian names.

Nasser (the Middle East) is a desert nation (thanks to the light of the fiery red moon), and, oddly enough, the only one to have more than one full town (three, in fact). The people use the greetings "salaam" and "chakra" (sp?). It's said to be a warlike nation, but . . . never mind. The ancient ruins are called Pyuramis, with a physical structure you could guess from the name, but, oddly enough, there are Easter Island bobble-head statues in all of the sarcophagi.

Montezuma (South America) basks in the light of the green moon, so it's mostly jungle. The people are stereotypical native tribesmen, mostly living in trees. All men (except the highest-ranking ones) wear tiki masks, and all women have too much lipstick. There is a legend of the ruins of Dorado, the city of gold, where you fight numerous but wimpy totem pole monsters. (I have never seen a single one of them attack, because they just sit there for the first turn and get blown away by Omega Cyclone.)

Yafutomā (Asia) uses the air/water power of blue gekkōseki to build ships that can fly higher and lower than any others (except the silver ones, of course). The nation itself is Japanese, except for the fact that it has a Great Wall (which doesn't seem all that useful, considering that ships can fly), but, for some reason, the pirates are Chinese (complete with martial artists and junks). And the onmyōji talk funny.

[Name Forgotten] (Antarctica) is completely frozen over by the light of the purple moon. There's no sign of civilization except some confusing ruins. The boss also uses auto-KO attacks, which really irritated me for the reason noted above.

Gin no dai-Shinden (the Moon) is actually not a continent, but a space station hovering just below the silver moon. (Oddly enough, they still use open-topped vessels.) It's full of the ever-popular lost technology (see several installments in the FINAL FANTASY and Wild Arms series), including really confusing silver-gekkōseki gravity powers. (Oddly enough, silver kōjutsu is mainly used to cause and cure unconsciousness.) All of the cyborg elders appear to be white-bearded men, which presumably means that either there's some genetic defect in the people or that their society is quite backwards in at least one respect. There are only two named characters from the area, and at least one of them has a Spanish name. The real silver continent is Atlantia (I'm sure you can guess the Earthly equivalent), but all it holds is ruins of various tech levels.

It should also be noted that most sailors and pirates are residents of Ocean (or North Ocean), which doesn't answer to any continent or nation. It's probably best equated to the Caribbean. The people have a variety of names, including at least two Spanish, three Chinese, and two named after kinds of coins. For unknown reasons, there are also two pirates in the game who speak Kansai dialect. There's also one who seems to really like Greek letters. . . .

I'll talk (relatively) briefly about the other Dreamcast games I played next time eventually.

So, as noted before, I have joined a D&D campaign. You will no doubt be aware of the fact that I do not socialize well with complete strangers. I managed to do this by not thinking about that until Friday (by which point I still had a day, because I had completely forgotten about it the week before). Even then, the apprehension didn't become crippling until I was already in the hallway right outside the room, so by that point it would have been a hell of a waste of time to just turn back. I stood there for a few minutes pretending to decide what to get from the vending machine (unnecessarily, since it was during a dry spell when no one new arrived and no one came out into the hallway), then just entered the room and joined in.

It had occurred to me already, but it really was a stupid idea to try to play a character with a Charisma of 18 with a group of people I've never met before. Even among friends, I often have trouble asserting myself, and up against a half-dozen unfamiliar PCs, Balmung's forceful personality ended up fading into the background most of the time. It didn't help that I made the further mistake of deciding that he speaks in a dialect that I can't use properly even if I do have time to plan each line beforehand, so the in-character speech ended up being quite inconsistent. As usual, this falls into the category of "making a fool of myself," but I never seem to get enough of that, so I'm planning to keep with it.

A synopsis of last night's session will follow[s], as you know I love doing that.

I've made a small update to Project Umbra, including consolidating both files to one (since one was a subset of the subject of the other anyway). I still have quite a bit more planned to fix, but I'm too lazy to look back at my old information just yet [but have now].