Fortress of Perpetual Midnight

As opposed to the research described in my previous post, I figured that for "Final Exam," I could find a fair amount of stuff on the Website. As it turns out, there's hardly any background text on the pages. But what really struck me is that you can download any of the current books for free. Although the information won't be as accurate, this would prove an extremely useful resource for someone who doesn't already bootleg them.

Also, I'm amused by the fact that this commercial site is chummy and informal, addressing the customer as "kimi." As he'd most likely be a dude, I don't find this particularly offensive （笑）.

Here are a couple of issues that are crimping my style [hindering my acquisition of Japanese media]:

—Since Tōkyō Toshokan and its RSS feeds seem to have suddenly ceased to exist, I have no way of watching what raws are available in a timely manner. This would be significantly more distressing if I hadn't already had to give up watching full-sized series due to my lack of disk space.

—My next quarter's order is still a couple of months off, but this time, there are some other circumstances that will take some consideration. As noted before, "Mandalorian with a Mission" (see here) is second on my short list, and to script the Japanese dialog, I'm going to want some STAR WARS comics for reference. (There are some dōjin-shi listed at jpqueen, but they're unofficial and mostly 801, and I can't find their request form anymore.) As they're all at least 10 years old, they're not available from amazon itself, so that means buying from users. Although cheap, these are generally not shipped overseas, which means using POSTTY or testing out one of the other similar services I've found. The former gets me knowledge of how it works and small customer loyalty discounts, but I also know how it doesn't work. The significant point here is that they charge per package they receive and allow only three per order. Even if I could figure out how to find multiple items from the same buyer (which I once did for arifyn, but now can't figure out how to effect even in the U.S.), I don't know whether they would be shipped together. I suppose all that this means is that it would be expensive, really. . . .

Speaking of the first two on the list, I just realized that some Twi'leks have lumps on their foreheads just like ogres. Of course, our future-Mandalorian protagonist won't, because that just isn't cute. . . .

Figure 1 is what I thought I might do next on Monday. A was originally intended to be a test for the heroine, but I intend to make her look older and more boyish than the protagonist, so I should have made her a bit less wide-eyed and skirt-wearing. I also didn't bother to think up a good design for her top or her pauldrons. As you can see, when you're over 10,000 years old, it's reasonable to expect you may have a visible battle scar. With B, I attempted to try out narrower eyes and a longer face (to emphasize how tall and slender elves are). I also tried making a design for bangs without obscuring the archetypal eyebrows. C was another attempt at a longer chin, but it looked so bad that I decided to give him a silly haircut like before.

Fig. 1	Fig. 2	Fig. 3

By Wednesday, I had further revised my idea of where to start. Of the two listed, "Final Exam" (thankfully) has no sex, or even female characters. Further, as skaven carry lots of things with warpstone in them and these ogres live close to the Great Maw, it'll be understandable if they look a bit deformed. (Interestingly, although this unsourced article claims that warpstone is common in the area, the Lazarghs are described in their army book as having their teeth and hair fall out as with radiation poisoning, contrasting with the usual Chaos warping, exemplified by the more northern ogre tyrant who has grown fingers on his head.) I may further avoid problems (particularly with cloth) by making the skaven a bit indistinct to emphasize their stealthy skills.

So, Figure 2 shows some ideas for the skaven themselves. The guys on the left were facial structure tests, but then I tried out designing a helmet and mustache. Neither is common among Clan Eshin adepts, but I'm planning to use them to distinguish certain individuals who lean in less usual directions. The one on the right is a test for body structure. As they're sneaky assassins rather than proud leaders, they're as hunched-over as any skaven. I also tried another hat for him, but not any footwear, as I wanted to make sure I can still draw the bare feet that most skaven sport. I wasn't thinking straight, so I gave him the sort of sword you may see on an old Warlord Clan rat-man. (You can see a more Eshin-style blade in the lower left.) All three show different attempts at the incisors. I think normal buck-teeth make them look a bit nerdy rather than scary, so I'm testing more fearsome designs.

As I have much more experience drawing skaven than other things, I devoted the rest of the page to weaponry. This is an important tool to differentiate the various Gutter Runners and their specialties. For instance, the kusari-gama is a compromise between the two-handed flail used by some Clan Eshin members in Mordheim (as seen in the boxed set) and a more versatile tool. (I don't know if there's any real-world background for using one as a utility item like in the original Seiken Densetsu, but this is supposed to be an over-the-top action comic, not historical fiction.) As skaven have no precedent for using kama in the first place, I added a slight hook on the end of the blade (to match typical fighting claws) and small spikes on the weight to make it more vicious-looking as per their style.

Many of the other weapons show simpler concerns. Skaven don't usually use scabbards, but one of them is secretly an assassin, whose trademark weeping blade constantly drips "corrosive venom" (presumably meaning acid). I've modeled it after a Japanese sort (notably the lack of a pointed end). I also don't know how throwing stars are supposed to be carried. (Perhaps a Pez dispenser would do.) The boomerang is another weapon that is not known to be used by skaven. I'm debating where I should put them in the spectrum between historical (based on their geographical counterparts in the real world) and original (made up or taken from elsewhere) fantasy.

Figure 3 shows my attempts at the defenders. As you can see, much of it is experimenting with proportions. (For some reason, I wanted to make it so the gut-plates completely obscure the breadth of their torsos from the front view.) The upper-right one also shows the lumpy forehead seen in some ogres (presumably knobs in the bone of the cranium?) and the fact that ogres have five toes per foot, like men but unlike skaven. The lower-left guy is the hunter, who is an outcast from the kingdom and thus hasn't suffered the radiation therapy the others constantly endure. Although the standard model has a full beard, I gave him a more typical ogre Fu Manchu and goatee to make up for the fact that the tribe doesn't have them. (Of course, I forgot to give the others no teeth, so the contrast isn't as significant.) The fact that he's wearing a cloak (with a very crude rhinox head showing) and helmet shows that he's on his way back from a hunt, not just getting out of bed as most of the surprised squatters will be (if they even manage to wake). I want to give him a fairly round skull for his plackart to match the usual ogre gut-plate style, but I haven't thought of an appropriate one yet, so I've just used a place-holder in this image. (The one obvious choice would be a giant, but those are for tyrants to enslave, not for hunters to hunt.)

The gnoblar in the upper right shows that these gits will not allow me to forgo the noses. You can also probably guess where he scavenged the shirt. The hammer shows a more distinctive variation on the classic ogre club than the one held by the upper-left fellow. As ogres are quite strong and don't mine, they often use stone weights in their clubs, with iron bands to keep them from splitting. I'll have to be careful about textures to show that. You can also see that I've put another pistol here. Although Clan Eshin use them in Mordheim, I suppose firearms are not very good for covert missions in the days before suppressors, but I'll have chances to show them off with the ogres.

A recent few that I haven't noted:

1. I thought of a nifty conversion for the Ork Warboss from Black Reach (not BLEACH Rack) that I bought on impulse. It's too bad it was a dream, because I like nifty conversions, and at present I don't know of any real use for that miniature. Still, it is nice that they allow me to buy things that aren't normally available without buying a bunch of other stuff that I don't want, particularly now that the source has cracked down on such practices.

2. Ms. Sōryū and Shinji had finished a fight, so they decided to take a shower in a nearby waterfall. (Yeah, I imagine that L.C.L stuff is pretty unpleasant. Then again, I don't even like water.) Ms. Sōryū ended up falling asleep before getting dressed, so Shinji tried to kiss her. Fortunately, he was interrupted by their mascot chara, who appeared to be an unidentified creature from somewhere in Class Carnivora. This mascot was similar to a figurine of wondrous power, except that its figurine form was the same size as its living form and was mutable. In this case, it did its job by transforming into a loud gramophone. The shower scene may have come from the fact that I had just decided to use such neta in one of my shorts, but why did I have to throw in a bloody man? At least his conduct was less repulsive than the scenes where Ms. Sōryū was sleeping at the beginning and end of END. (Speaking of which, I'm still not sure whether END was one movie or two like GRAY SIDE and BLUE SIDE, as it's from back when I had no reliable sources.) Sadly, from a series like Eva, it doesn't seem too far out of character for her to strip in front of him even when she's awake.

3. In the first episode (probably of CSI: MIAMI or some such, judging by the content and continuity), the husband got kicked out of the mansion. In the sequel, he decided to infiltrate and rob it. This was probably inspired by an episode from Sunday, but I don't remember much, including whether or not it was actually after I watched it. . . .

4. As Tony Stark (not Tony Stark), I was a member of an élite team of commandos, their MVP due to the fact that I was the only one who could hover and fire highly miniaturized explosives, which I used to effect during a skirmish in an abandoned factory. Unfortunately, when dealing with non-laser-sword diplomacy, continuity errors ensued, as I couldn't remember whether my mask retracted to the front (as with the knights of the Northlands in Project Artificer) or rear.

The subject line is another plug for my constantly expanding line of shorts (on which I'll comment further in another post). The theme for the titles is somewhat troublesome due to the fixed number of choices.

I was playing an RPG using the engine from WARCRAFT III (like the not-really-orc-campaign in Frozen Throne) where I seemed to be the living version of Arthas. I was going around doing quests in some castle that had a layout similar to the Tippecanoe Mall. Oddly, despite my being the good guy version, one of my quest-givers was a plague witch. One of the missions involved escorting a human lady used as a receptacle for some disease [possibly related to the neta from one of my shorts, only more gruesome]. Still, I seemed more concerned about attacking friendly NPCs so they would mob and kill me. I also thought about the fact that they had to change the names of the Steam Tank and Gyrocopter in the expansion because GW drew the line.

Sadly, this one seems to have filled my disk cache, so I forgot about the previous three that I hadn't gotten around to typing. I've got various things to post, but for the moment I'm a bit sidetracked by the rereading I did while I was looking up the subject line for the previous post. I'm done rereading the actual book, but it occurred to me that there might be more of the original Webcomic, despite the fact that there was no suggestion that there might be any continuation or even where it might be found on the Web (which might be a good way to stop tachi-yomi performers from leaving the book and just going and reading it there, but prevents publicity for what comes after). Anyway, since the book only goes up to Chapter ~20 and the oldest serial installment still available on the Web is 32, I'm thinking it'd be a good idea to make sure I read it while I'm sure I can, barring finding some comment saying that the other parts will also be published. (And yes, my kansō on this series are in the backlog too. . . .)

Speaking of last night, I feel as if I should make sure that I've taken my drugs on days when I read things by Ms. Hakamada. As a person and as someone who aspires to write himself, it's good to be able to have emotional reactions to drama, but it sure doesn't feel good.

Upon closer inspection, it was probably just Ron's big-ass revolver. Speaking of his weapons, I find it odd that they feature him holding up the big stone fist and saying, "five-fingered Molly" or some such, considering that when he's using it (I've only seen the end of the first one and none of the comics, so I don't know whether it's a gauntlet, a metamorphosis, or what) it only has four fingers (counting the thumb). It also seems unusual to use "boy" for a muscular 6-ft.-1-in. superhero with that much facial hair. Judging by the CLIX, that's because the "baby" is the size of a grade-schooler.

In the American version of BRAIN AGE², one of Ryūta's (I'm on first-name basis with him just so I can use an accent mark) suggestions for keeping your mind sharp is to imagine fictional objects. His example is a "cat ladder," and he asks, "Was it furry?" Apparently, in the case of someone at Privateer Press, it was not.

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.

On a similar note to the second-to-last sentence way back here:



I find it rather ironic that the man is so much uglier than the troll.

For some reason, the Waffen-SS of the Last Battalion were not a military group but an urban gang, and it was up to us Ninja Turtles to deal with them. The Hauptsturmführer's work was easy to identify, as there weren't many others running around with Broomhandle Mausers these days.† Oddly enough, Dok‡ wasn't actually doing anything evil, just researching at a local library.

†It had been replaced as a service pistol even by WWII, although some officers (such as him) still had personal ones. As the only confirmed Werwolfes are him and Ms. Rip-Van, we don't know anything about how they're spawned, so for all we know he may have been a soldier for decades before that. Interestingly enough, the powers they are seen to have seem to relate to firearms: Ms. Rip-Van's dancing musket ball and the Hauptsturmführer's ability to make two long-barreled Mausers look like one normal piece when holstered （笑）. (Speaking of extensible barrels, DM had to make a similar excuse so that typical slugthrower rifles (exemplified by the Czerka Adventurer) can double as BAW E-5 Droid Blaster Carbines due to the changes he's made to the plot.) Tangentially, I'm also amused by the fact that humans like Walter can chop up people with mono-wire, while vampires (there's one who shows up later on, not to spoil anything by saying where) can chop up skyscrapers. There's also the fact that Walter is a gunsmith, yet he fights exclusively with mono-wire. (I've thought of a logical reason for that, but that's ( a spoiler for Book 9. ))

Admittedly, there are Mauser variants chambered in modern calibers, so his work might not be identifiable by the ammo and brass left at the scene if he uses one of those. However, each firearm has a distinct pattern of marks that it leaves on each bullet from the rifling in the barrel. I think I may have heard that it's possible to determine the model as well, but I failed to find confirmation on that; still, they would be able to tell that all of the rounds came from the same two weapons, making it easier to link it to a specific person.

‡Since they're German, I assumed it was an abbreviation of the German word. I don't know whether they use such an affectionate term in German, but I don't imagine Hirano does either. (The dwarf is known as "Chef.") Using German words can lead to some odd things; this one is the same as an Ork word, and "Death Korps" is a bit of a false friend. . . .

Fortunately, I managed to find my MARIO KARTridge. Unfortunately, I was munching on my old Skaven miniatures.

It's too bad I lost that Game Pak; it's pretty pointless, but can be entertaining (more so than METROID) for a moment every once in a while. I probably wouldn't have lost it if the purpose-made DS case had a place to put DS cartridges in it. . . .

1. It's taking while for them to test all the auditions for the opening I mentioned before, but they say there were about 70 entries, so my chances are extremely slim considering I don't have any experience or qualifications.

2. As mentioned earlier, I talked with the job company to work on getting something tolerable. I was later told that I was not allowed to work with them after having gotten a job and had to re-apply at Voc Rehab. I'm not sure whether I want to bother with this, considering that my last two job coaches both seem to hate my guts.

3. Between the two of these, I'm thinking that it may just be worth it to try and get the packing/shipping job once they give me the bad news about the other one (or maybe before that, just to make sure). I think I'd have a reasonable shot at this one because my jobs at arifyn Books and the J&C actually give me related experience, and I should still be able to get a good recommendation, depending on how many more tantrums I throw by the time I get to that. In addition to the advantages I mentioned last time, I would have to get a home (in a more tolerable climate, from what I hear), and I'd be packing more of a variety of things that I find more interesting. The main problem, I think, is that I need to type up a real résumé, with which I was hoping to get help from the job people. My social worker suggested that I look on the Web for advice on how to do it, but I'm so lazy. . . .

The other two were a broken link and one I'd already done, so, while I'm at it, I may as well post this one as well. For those who weren't already on the 13-name list to whom I chained the email, this is my vain attempt to kill all the world's rapists on Saturday.

( Result spoilers )