Well, Passover starts tonight. At least my birthday doesn’t fall on it this time. As per tradition that I just made up, I leave you with some funnies. Enjoy!
Yes, the wolverine is part of the weasel family along with otters, badgers, ferrets, and a bunch of others. You can kind of see it with the short, stocky body and the attitude of a honey badger. At least if you see a picture since most people picture the comic book character first. Many don’t even realize Wolverine is named after the wolverine. Hugh Jackman apparently didn’t know until he played the character. The reason for the connection is because the superhero, like the animal, is short (5’3” in comics), has keen senses, and is very vicious.
Before I dive into some facts about this animal, what is its conversation status? Well, it usually gets listed as least concern because we don’t know their exact population. Wolverines are solitary and have huge home ranges with males covering 240 miles and females covering 50-100 miles. Members of the same sex try not to overlap territory, so you would likely only see a male and female together for mating. The low population density makes it difficult to get an exact count.
Note I said ‘usually’ since in November 2023, US Fish and Wildlife Society added the wolverine to the threatened list. Being cold weather animals, climate change is reducing their range and population since the females make their dens out of snow. Wolverines also get into human developments, which causes conflict. They can be very ferocious and threatening, which leads to conflict. Although, there have not been any reported wolverine attacks on people since we aren’t seen as food.
So, what are some facts?
Wolverines have claws that are similar to snow boot spikes and walk flat-footed, which allows them to climb difficult terrain easily.
Their fur is oily and resistant to water in order to prevent getting covered in frost.
A nickname of them is ‘skunk bear’ due to the potent odor from their anal gland territory markings.
Wolverines are mostly scavengers and will steal food from other predators such as wolves and lynx.
Their natural enemies are wolves, bears, cougars, and golden eagles with grey wolves being the biggest threat. Wolverines will challenge all of these for food.
They are induced ovulators, which means the females will only ovulate when stimulated. Males will have lifetime relationships with 2-3 females, which means some males will never breed.
Mating season is in summer, but the female will go through delayed implantation until early winter. Gestation is 30-50 days.
Fathers do visit their children for the first 10 weeks.
At 6 months old, some wolverine go with the father and travel for a bit. Possibly to learn survival skills.
Even though they weigh around 50 pounds, they will challenge much larger animals such as bears and moose.
They live in the colder regions of North America, Europe, and Asia.
Spring break starts today and work returns on May 1st. Going to get some editing done this weekend as well as pack for a father/son trip. Passover is on Monday, so I’ll get some family time in too. So much is going to happen this coming week, which I’m really hoping to share next Saturday with a very late goal post. Seriously, we’re talking maybe 9 PM Eastern Standard Time. Depends on how long it takes to get home. I’ll schedule something in the morning just to keep the post streak going.
This week definitely had me wondering if I was going to make it to the break. Work and home life were crazy with so much going on. Kids are always getting antsy leading into a break, so you can imagine how that went. We started with a field trip too, which threw everyone off their schedule. Several coworkers and I kept thinking it was later in the week than it really was because so much happened on Monday. Life didn’t slow down at all after that with my son having a music solo performance, several appointments, and general prep work for the trip.
My progress on Darwin & the Halfling Hunt wasn’t as good as I wanted. I came one chapter short, which doesn’t sound like much. In the end, it is because I really want to finish the editing before I leave on the trip. Be ridiculous to bring a single chapter with me and try to carve out time to do it. The alternative would be having a long period of time between the final battle and wrap up. My hope is that I can get all of this done this weekend and use a little of Monday morning too. I won’t be able to print out Darwin & the Avenging Elf for the trip, but I’ll have ‘Phi Beta Files’ to work on when my son wants to work on his video game ideas.
The little free time I had this week was spent with a few simple things. I finished the May blog posts and started the June ones. I usually like to get June/July/August set up before summer to give me more editing or writing time. Still trying to figure out what to do with Tuesdays once I finish the ‘looking back’ posts. Only have War of Nytefalland Do I Need to Use a Dragon?left to schedule. That covers the summer. Can I start doing Darwin teasers when I haven’t figured out when I’ll publish it? Tuesday is my only remaining book promo day, so I don’t want to drop or change it.
I also watched ‘Fallout’ on Amazon Prime. It was fun, but I wonder if I’d like it more if I knew of the lore. It’s based on a video game series, so it probably had Easter eggs that I missed. Overall, I like the story and setting. Took me a few episodes to get into the innocent Lucy character, but she grew on me. My favorite character was Maximus because he had pretty bad luck at times, but kept on trying. I would recommend this to anyone who likes post-apocalyptic stories with some comedy, drama, and bloody action. The violence never detracted from the story though.
Only other thing on my mind is that I’m trying to think of more topics I can blog about in regards to writing. Not being able to read and watch TV as much as I used to is preventing me from getting ideas. Still mulling over ‘Fallout’ to find a few. I’m hoping to start ‘Great Teacher Onizuka’ this weekend while editing. Maybe a non-fantasy/sci-fi story will give me some character-based topics. Fingers crossed.
This stems from another comment on a forum where somebody talked about how they stayed in a toxic relationship because they feared loneliness. Other people joined in by saying that they came out too broken to be anything other than lonely. Really made me think about how much a single relationship can damage a person. It can result in them never having a 100% healthy relationship again. It’s a known fear, which is why some people will stay in agony because they think loneliness is worse.
I definitely don’t fall on the ‘stay in agony’ camp, but I do feel loneliness a lot. Many of my friends have families or are too far away to get together so often. Made new friends since the divorce with several fizzling out due to me not being into the same stuff. At least, that’s what I thought, but it’s really just residual pain and me being afraid to open up to other people. This results in loneliness being what I get, which comes with its own type of suffering. Makes me wonder about the psychological fragility of humans, which is an entirely different topic.
Still, I can see the temptation to stay in a bad relationship because you’re afraid that the alternative is a lifetime of loneliness. Humans are social animals, so the threat of isolation is terrifying to most. We can bullshit ourselves by believing things will get better if we hang in there even if the other person is clearly not changing. We start to accept blame for everything in the hopes of appeasing the other person and getting our lifeline of human connection to improve or last. People can lose their sense of self-worth and identity because of this ‘versus’. The end is usually total psychological collapse and/or the relationship ends because they are no longer seen as useful. The loneliness strikes no matter what in both situations.
Cleary, this post is sad and dark with no real connection to writing. We can make characters in these situations to help others recognize their plights and find a way out, but that’s it. Maybe that’s enough though.
(This poem deals with the concept of the afterlife. Specifically, the possibility that there isn’t one. I hear a lot of people talking about working hard to enjoy what happens after death, but then I see them not actually enjoying life. Other people are forced into that situation simply to survive. What if this is all there is? Death is the end and most people are squandering what little time they have because we developed a society that requires the majority beat ourselves into the ground. Not sure how I would handle that if that’s true.)
Imagine this is it.
No worlds beyond this realm.
Your life is all you get.
No judgment at the end.
A simple void of nothingness.
That is all we have.
Can you still behave?
Knowing that you earn no points.
Your soul will fade away.
I say to live your life.
Regardless of the end.
Enjoy the precious gift of time
As it leaks into the air.
Relish those you meet.
The ones you will leave behind.
For that is how we exist beyond.
Surviving in memories
Of those our lives have touched.
Saying ‘versus’ isn’t correct. Yet, I do see many people trying to claim that one type is superior to the other. Becomes a whole ‘knight vs samurai’ thing at times. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here owning both styles of swords. I still want to do a short post since some people might think a sword is just a sword. Many are surprised to learn that each one has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Curved Blades
Let’s start with blades such as scimitars and katana. These weapons have a backwards curve, which helps with slashing and cutting. A warrior can deliver a blow across an enemy who has none to light armor. These wounds are deep and the movement results in the blade cutting through a bigger area. For example, a slash starting at the right shoulder can go all the way to the left hip with enough power. Heavy armor can be a problem since the force isn’t hitting a single point to penetrate.
Curved blades were especially useful when it came to cavalry. Needing less accuracy than a stabbing weapon, it’s supposedly easier to wield from atop a moving horse. Being a weapon that depends on momentum, the speed and power from a charge can add to the slashing damage. Some people believed this would mean less training necessary for cavalry when compared to a knight.
They are also easier to draw and work better in large army situations where there are plenty of targets.
Straight Blades
Longswords and rapiers can cut, but their strength is in stabbing and piercing. They can be used with more accuracy since you’re aiming a straight thrust. This allows for hitting gaps in defenses and even breaking armor since all of the power is being focused on a single point. With chainmail being the most popular during Medieval Europe, this piercing power was essential.
Straight blades are better for small group fights and duels, which was what you found in the regions they were used. A defensive reason for this is because they are better for blocking. The straight blade deflects a blow with very little chance of the opponent sliding along and into you. A curved blade has a chance of directly the blocked weapon towards your body if you aren’t carefully.
In General
Everyone who is into swords has their own preferences in opinions. Mine is that I like both and see a use for each type. I’m sure there is plenty more information out there than the basics I wrote here. So, what do you think?
The 9th volume was another that appeared after I had already started the series and planned the entire plot. The Mercenary Princefilled a gap that I didn’t realize I had made. Well, I felt that I would eventually, but then I realized I was wrong. Once I outlined the original volume 8, I had to made two more. This volume was designed to focus primarily on one champion: Delvin Cunningham.
Poor Delvin debuted during the third act of Family of the Tri-Runeand then he casually integrated. There was never a book to highlight him or give him a grand adventure to join the group. He simply happened to be in the right spot and got recruited due to his destiny. Even the other champions accepted it without question and that was the end of it. Not much concern about his past or interests. One would think was be a disaster, but I got this to work in my favor. Mostly, Delvin eventually realized that he was seen as ‘just there’ when the champions were discussed. His ego and sense of purpose got hit, so he headed home to find himself.
I established the mercenary leadership system. It was hinted at before, but now it has more clarity. This created a better culture around mercenaries.
I got to bring back Delvin’s original mercenary crew since he didn’t want to bring the champions with him. I had a lot of fun with these guys.
Yagervan Plains was just an unused part of the map. The entire area was built up as well as establishing a nomadic tribe culture. Each tribe was named after a bird. I also finally gave a name to Pynofira Forest (originally Conifer Woods), Crysvale Tundra (originally just Tundra), and the Frost Barrens (originally Cold Desert). Not sure if I used the Tundra or Frost Barrens.
Much more character development for Queen Trinity as a subplot with her, Nyx, and Stephen Kernaghan went on a collision course with Delvin. This also helped me do more with Stephen and make him clearly more deranged.
Finally, I used this as an introduction to the Dawn Fang vampires. These would be the focus of the War of Nytefallseries. The character who debuted was Mab. She was popular and helped to show how these special vampires operate. It also made it clear that they weren’t all monsters.
All that being said, Delvin was the one who I wanted to focus on. He no longer felt like he deserved to be a champion. He also was heading to a home where everyone thought he died at the age of 8. So, I ended up designing his history and some old enemies as I went along. Lots of fun and I think it finished clearing up some loose ends between what one could consider the two halves of the ‘Prophecy Temple Story Arc’. Okay, I just made that up, but it did stop me from having 6 temple adventures in a row. Got to do some great world-building and character development here as well as setting things up for future series. After all, Darwin Slepsnor (my newest hero) starts off in Yagervan Plains, so The Mercenary Princehelped me get an idea of his origins too.
Can’t think of anything I would do differently. This book was one the stories made to suit a specific purpose instead of just being there for the main plot. Not that the other books were bland, but they always had an eye to the future. The Mercenary Princewas all about the past and present. I knew it would impact the rest of the story, but that would be tertiary. I gave Delvin his book to shine and settled more of the loose ends that I couldn’t push any further. The foundation I established for what happened next was always going to happen, but now it was much more stable.
Some fun questions:
What do you do if you feel unimportant?
Are heroes wrong to be upset if they feel their deeds go unnoticed?
If you were a fantasy mercenary, what would you name your group and why?
Legends of Windemere 