(Don’t remember the exact incident that caused this poem. It’s clearly about someone overstepping their bounds about my son. Honestly, the final line would probably be a better poem title.)
I heard you say it
A curse upon my child
Not yet at his second
Saying he will burn
Because I never tried to drown him
Do you feel you are holy?
Condemning an innocent
Raised in a separate faith
To be tortured if he dies
By monsters only you believe
I should rip your soul apart
Point out how you are warped
Preaching the words of god
That have been corrupted
By the sinful hunger of man
Yet you use these words
To say my son is doomed
Ignoring the innocence
And precious sweetness
Behind his every laugh
I hope that you are wrong
For if your words ring true
Then your god should start to pray
That I may never die
So I cannot hunt him down
I say it and I stand by it
You are the one to fry
Wishing pain upon a child
In an attempt to turn me
To your putrid path
Let all who lash with faith
Wishing torture on other souls
Be the first to feel the fire
For they are the truest sinners
These harvesters of hate
So, these are for people to think about and try to put themselves into a situation as someone else. It’s fairly easy to decide on what we would do when a character runs into a problem. Yet, we don’t always think like they do, which is why some people get frustrated with fictional characters. We’ll see how this type of post goes for this month and hope for the best.
Scenario that some people may recognize
You are a young adventurer who has just discovered the love of their life. Unfortunately, you have been chosen to fight a great evil and your beloved has their own path. You wouldn’t want them to be pulled into mortal peril either, but your relationship just started and now you have to leave for a time. This is a minor issue once you run into a curious culture clash.
While you come from a culture where you date one person and eventually marry or break up, your soulmate comes from one of dating polygamy. To combat a wave of adultery and divorce, their culture allows for dating multiple partners. There are rules of etiquette where the primary lover must meet the others first, which can’t be followed due to the distance issue. Still, you agree since you don’t plan on having another lover and you don’t want to insult your beloved’s culture. After all, it’s normal to them even if it’s alien and weird to you.
Months pass and you arrive at a village where you are confronted by a pompous jerk from the same region as your beloved. They clearly wants to goad you into a fight. You have no interest since you could easily beat them, so it would be a waste of time. Then, this person declares that they slept with your beloved. They continue talking about it in the hopes of making you mad. You get a sense that your beloved’s father pushed the union, but they aren’t around to explain their side of the story. All you can do is listen to the grinning jerk go on about the experience.
“Thanks. Sorry about the late delivery,” the slender man says to the guards before urging the horses forward.
Passing under the entrance to Nyte, the metal carriage earns a few lingering stares due to the cold mist seeping out from under the bolted roof. The Elven merchant and his Orcish wife are too plainly dressed to garner anyone’s attention, which is what the pair had hoped for when they made their plans. Hitting a bump in the road, the brown-haired woman sneezes to cover a grunt that comes from the underside of the carriage. The sound nearly startles the horses, but a soothing whisper that only they can hear helps the beasts remain calm. Praying that their precious merchandise is still intact, the elf hands the reins to his wife and opens a panel behind his head. A blast of cold sends frost into his face, but he manages to see that the chocolate statue of a winged demon is still in one piece. He has to stick his head entirely inside to see that a collection of edible orchids is safe, the fragile flowers held beneath a glass case that is topped with a candy parrot. Tapping rhythmically on the freezing wall, the merchant closes the panel and goes back to steering the nervous horses towards the castle.
“I have an auditory illusion going, so we can talk freely,” the wife says in a deep, masculine voice. She fixes her simple dress to hide her legs, which are itchy from having all of their hair removed. “Xavier’s forces are probably looking for my visual tricks, so it’s better to use good old disguises. Can’t believe I can regenerate limbs, but I can’t get my hair to grow back any quicker than that of a mortal. I’m envious of the others since they get to hide. These things hurt a lot. How does Chastity move around with such agony in her chest?”
“Being on your back all the time makes it easier,” the elf jokes with an impish smirk. The disguised burglar tries to laugh, but the tight wrap around her chest threatens to snap. “I told you we shouldn’t have switched like this. You took this too far, Clyde. Bad enough that my upper torso is being crushed to make me look like a guy, but you didn’t have to sew fake breasts onto your body. Nobody would have noticed a padded dress since we’re hired help. Can’t believe we’re going to have to fight like this. Keep in mind that we aren’t sure if we can get Luther and Titus out of their disguises in an emergency. At least Bob is doing okay underneath us, but I’m not sure how he’s going to get into the castle.”
“We have the cart and he can hide on the shelf,” Clyde replies as they go around a busy courtyard. The temptation to steal one of the banners is strong enough to make his fingers twitch, but he settles for making a lightning fast swing of his arm to slice it in half. “The important part is that we got through the wards and we’re still together. Once we reach the castle, we’ll unload the others and get them into the party. Xavier will drop his guard if the ceremony finishes without us appearing, so we’ll attack right before the desserts. Did you pack a change of clothes for us to use?”
“I’ll be a dwarven warrior and you’ll be a fireskin caster.”
“Those are way too bulky.”
“They were the only costumes Chastity had that didn’t smell funny.”
“I told you to buy fresh ones.”
“Spend money on something I can borrow or steal? It’s like you don’t even know me.”
(Thought it would be interesting to see the top non-promo posts of all time. This one went live on July 19, 2014.)
The above is a show from the late 90’s that was about a cop whose senses where enhanced. Not just a few like Wolverine, but all 5 and the creators were very good about giving each one a use. Ellison was described as a walking forensic lab during the show and he had military training that was enhanced by his senses. Sadly, it didn’t make it beyond 3 seasons and a clean up season. Never got to see the 4th one because I was in college, it was 2 years after the 3rd, and I only found out about it today. Also, Seasons 2-4 are not on DVD and I’m done with this moping.
Something I always liked about this show is that there were downsides to his senses and they backfired at times. If he focused too much on one sense then the other ones dimmed or turned off. So he had to master using them without falling into trances that left him vulnerable. There were times when he would be using an enhanced senses and something would go horribly wrong. For example, I think he was blinded by a light at the worst possible moment and another time he got sick because of a scent in the air. Might be mixing up episodes though. Need to watch again at some point, but Brisco County Jr. is next on my list. So what are some pros and cons for each sense, but remember that this is not a comprehensive list. It’s just what I can think of without rambling on for pages:
Sight
Pros– Nightvision, longer range, and increased visual awareness are possibilities.
Cons– Easily blinded and tunnel vision syndrome.
Hearing
Pros– Improved tracking, unable to be surprised, pick up changes that denote lying/anxiety, eavesdropping on private conversations, and other increased auditory awareness abilities.
Cons– Deafened by sudden sounds and too focused on hearing for other senses to kick in.
Smell
Pros– Improved tracking, sensing poisons/bad food, recognizing people before seeing them, and other increased olfactory awareness abilities.
Cons– Very bad hay fever, potency of colds can be worse than normal humans, overpowering smells can kill sense, smelling something does not always mean identification, and looking odd sniffing everyone.
Taste
Pros– Identify ingredients to food, easily find trace amounts of things, rule at wine tasting, pick up molecules in the air, and other taste-based abilities. (This is really the hardest one to use.)
Cons– Only identify what is known (Sentinel practiced with different foods), spices can be overpowering, and kissing someone with halitosis will suck.
Touch
Pros– Instinctive sense of wind changes, find subtle changes in textures, uncover hidden doorways, and other tactile abilities.
Cons– Increased sensations of pain, some textures might full sharp like sandpaper, and skin is easily agitated.
Today is National Bird Day, so I thought I’d highlight one of the biggest conservation success stories: The Condor.
Specifically, it was the California Condor that was pulled from the brink of extinction. We also have the Andean Condor. Now, California Condors had a slight boom in the late 1700’s because of human settlements having livestock, which gave them an ample food supply. Eventually, the people started moving to other areas and hunters began taking the game that would naturally feed the condors. Land was being taken over and eggs were being collected by people, which was decimating the condor population.
Condors were first protected in 1966 when 60 were in the wild, but it didn’t help and they dropped to 22. A recovery program began in 1979, which was controversial because people didn’t like the plan. It was that wild condors would be captured and used in a controlled breeding program. This could be difficult even though condors can live to 60 and are sexually mature at 6. They are monogamous and lay only one egg at a time, which is why the egg collecting was so destructive. Yet, there was a habit that conservationists could take advantage of.
While condors only lay one egg, they can have a second in the same breeding season if they lose the first one. So, people would take the first chick to hand feed and have an unpaired adult to raise, which prompted the mating pair to have a second chick. In 2021, it was also discovered that female California condors could have chicks without mating, which is called parthenogenesis.
It took a long time for the release part of the program to work, but it eventually took hold enough for the wild ones to breed. As of this year, there are 343 free-flying condors and 217 in captivity. The breeding program continues and is seen as a great success.
Here are some condor facts:
They are actually vultures, which means they are scavengers.
Condors are the largest land birds with California ones having a wingspan of 9.5 feet and Andean at 10.5.
Condors prefer to fly in windy areas in order to glide since they are so big.
Andean males have brown eyes and females have red.
I don’t go back to work until Monday, so my sense of time is messed up. I could normally handle two weeks off without getting confused, but switching to 2025 and my son going back earlier threw me off. Didn’t help that I had to wake up at 5:30 am on one day to get my son to school, which triggered my internal work schedule. At least I only have two days of frigid weather, Pokemon catching, and editing to go. *counts fingers and checks calendar* Yup . . . Two days.
In the realm of writing, I’ve added half of the Darwin & the Demon Game edits. I might get another 1-2 chapters typed in, but it’s been slow going. I’m editing my edits and several of them require checking previous volumes for continuity. Still have an issue with the corner my desk is in having bad lighting, so I can’t read the changes once the sun goes down. No space to put a floor lamp in either since this is what one could call a doggie dormer. Basically, my room is shaped like a chubby T-block from ‘Tetris’ and I’m in the base.
For those who never played
Still, progress is progress and time management wasn’t on my side. I had my son for four of the days, but not New Years Eve. My plan was to get a bunch of hand editing done on that day. Things got shaky because 2024 had a few final haymakers to throw at my head before it ended. So, I spent a chunk of New Years Eve evening filling out medical paperwork. I tried to get into editing mode after that, but wasn’t feeling it, so I did some March posts and watched ‘Tacoma FD’. Definitely needed some stupid humor to cheer myself up. Sent out a long email too since I had the time.
My son and I did get to see ‘Sonic 3’, which was fun. I expected more Shadow the Hedgehog, but he was used just enough. Jim Carrey stole the show as the Robotniks as usual. That might just be my generation who grew up with ‘In Living Color’, ‘Ace Ventura’, and ‘The Mask’. Anyway, that was a fun outing and matinee tickets made it affordable instead of tear-inducing.
The rest of the week was the traditional family latke party, Pokemon Go outings, and hitting up the zoo on Monday. It was supposed to rain and be cold, but the weather changed to be more pleasant. The Bronx Zoo still has some things closed during the winter, so it was a quicker visit than usual. We’re looking forward to the summer when they reopen the ‘World of Darkness’. I think my son likes the zoo, but he’s not as fascinated as he used to be. It’s a relaxing outing where we get to talk and be away from the chaos. That’s all we really want on some days. Well, it also gets him away from most of the video games.
Have to admit that 2025 isn’t impressing me, but I knew it would really just be the continuation of other headaches. I can say ‘new year, new me’ as much as I want, but certain entities won’t abruptly back off. So, I’ve already had to contend with the usual suspects. That’s another reason I haven’t done as much editing as I wanted since I had to deal with texts and phone calls. Even interrupted some of my Pokemon Go outings, which was awkward. I do hope that things improve as the year goes on, but that doesn’t look like a given. At least not in a few arenas.
I’ve also been wondering about publishing. Been over a year since I reached out to my cover artist since my life got busy. My finances got messy too. So, I don’t know what to do about Slumberlord Chronicles. I really should reach out even though I have no idea what I’m doing. Car repairs, new laptop, and a bunch of other unexpected expenditures really hit me hard. Even if I scrounge up money for a cover, I don’t have the time and money to properly publish and promote the book. Talking to people, it feels like the indie author landscape is desolate. You can find blips of activity if you have a strong support system, but I don’t have that anymore.
So, what do I do with these books? I still have to edit one more before I tackle writing a new book. Kind of scared that they’ll just sit around. Maybe I should take 2025 to figure out what to do here. Part of me considered just posting the Darwin stories on my blog like I did with ‘Bedlam’. Only that ended up being the death knell for the series and this blog doesn’t get enough traffic to make it worthwhile. Darwin was one of my favorite characters to play and now write, so I want to do him justice like I did with Luke Callindor and Clyde. Wish this was like the old days where there was a higher chance of some success when you published a book.
Since I’m going back to my usual grind on Monday, I don’t know what I’m going to be planning. January is going to be crazy in general too. Next week is normal. Week after that is when my son has All County rehearsals and his concert. Week after that is midterms, which means work and home will be in upheaval. Somewhere in there, I hope to finish typing in the hand edits and print out Darwin & the Beast Collector. I need to start setting up March posts as well. Far too much to do and I don’t get a lot of time to do it. Ugh.
Goals of the week:
Get back into work schedule.
Type in a few more chapter edits of Darwin & the Demon Game.
Help son with schoolwork and studying.
Pokemon Go because that’s the only exercise I get.
In fantasy, you may come across the term ‘primordial forces’. It shows up in other genres too, but it tends to pertain to ancient powers. Some may think of ‘primordial soup’, which was basically the goo that started off life on Earth. That’s close to what we’re talking about, but still very far often. So, what would be primordial forces?
Primordial forces existed before everything else and are considered older than the universe or whatnot. They were here at the beginning of time and will exist for all of eternity. This can include reality, matter, energy, magic, space, time, and many other forces. The point is that they have to be something that existed at the beginning of a world’s existence. So, you do have some limitations depending on how the story’s world works.
These forces tend to be what keeps the world together or birthed it as well. This can allow life and death to be included since one could say primordial requires there to be living things. Same goes for time, which would need beings to exist for it to be noticed. Much of this depends on your personal definition and the building of your world though. You can see that there is a lot of flexibility. Still, they all share the traits of being ancient and becoming a building block for the world itself. This is probably why the genetic soup gets the name.
Science has some primordial forces too, which are: gravity, electromagnetism, strong nuclear forces, and weak nuclear forces. Those last two cover a lot of ground, but that does simplify things. Makes sense to me too. These are the forces that keep our universe together, so they had to exist at the start. Otherwise, the universe would never have formed and everything else wouldn’t be created. Space and energy might be the only other forces I could see coming before them, but that might not be scientific enough for this group’s use.
Another possible primordial force is change. Everything changes at some point, so one could say it’s a force. It could be defined as evolution, but that doesn’t include non-living things changing. So, the general term could be change, which explains how the original components of the universe become what people see during the story. Maybe this falls under the strong and weak nuclear forces.
The interesting thing is that I kept finding different sets of primordial forces depending on the world. So, I don’t think there’s a clear set. Science does have the 4, but fiction tends to be different across the board. Yes, the Infinity Gems could count as would DC’s seven forces of the universe. I know at least the first one would be mentioned in the comments if I didn’t do it first. It does prove the variation of systems and how there tend to be stories about people trying to capture all of this power. Makes sense since one who controls the primordial forces of a world would be able to change that world to whatever they want.
So, what do you think of the overall primordial forces concept?
Legends of Windemere 