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From The Army Orc.

This is my chinese dragon with wolf paw prints. If I do it again I will do the same basic idea but without the outlines for the dragon... it will simply be the pattern in the shape.

I fixed the bird from a while back. This one looks okay I think.

I tried to draw a dragons' head profiled from the side and only outlining... kinda like the deer. Some aspects of it turned out better than others.

This is me with a horrible look on my face. I would take a better one but it is kinda wierd taking picture after picture of yourself while sitting in a library with people walking behind you. I feel self concious.

So I now have a very verah nicely warm underarmor hoodie. Plain black with the UA logo. The picture is taken by my very sad little old phone that I'm borrowing from that brother over there.

I needed the hoodie because it is like 52 degrees here and THAT IS FREEZING. I was cold dang it.

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Story idea below
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There is a vessel... or ship... or something of that nature. The outside changes more. Care wrought stone architecture fills the inside. A geas has been placed on these stones. Trapping it "outside but near" according to the few crew members who stop to talk. The Captain of this vessel is never seen or heard, but the crew refers to him often. The crew never talks of themselves, not even to give a name... they talk about the vessel and sometimes the captain. They never ask questions and rarely talk for more than a few words.

However the vessel carries more than just crew and cargo. Occasionally passengers will come aboard. Most by accident. And then when the vessel "sails" they are stranded on board. It only takes one trip to realize that the vessel almost never returns to the same place twice. Some have been traveling centuries and never found their way back home.

Here are a few of the passengers:

Fesson's crew:
-Fesson, a blue haired pointy-eared female with a penchant for ice tricks.
-Dust, a grey skinned bulky alchemist with many small techno-etheric pets.
-Almost, a wiry raven shapechanger that rides on Fesson's shoulder. Almost is Fesson's mate and is the leader of her crew.
-Freckles, a furtive brown rat often found in Fesson's sweater pocket. She likes plants, fire and swarms. She has a relationship with Dust.
-Shhh, a female with mottled skin, she is a great healer and doctor with odd mind tricks. Having her working on you is rarely pleasant as she tends to enjoy the pain a little too much while fixing you.
-Jeffries, a sharpshooter with a really odd crossbow. Obsesses over vampires despite how many times she has been told that they are mythical.
-Kel, a shadow mage. Despite his deep aversion to physical combat he has a reputation as an assassin. Works with Dust on projects.

Fesson's crew controls the gardens and the observatory. The stars seen in the observatory change all the time but you can always see "the hunting man"(from earth's sky Orion). The gardens are large enough to easily get lost for weeks in. Kel and Almost are certain they change size, Dust isn't sure about that but the three have proven that the contents will change when not under observation.

Fen's Pack:

-Fen is a wirey male librarian with necromantic tendencies. Always has a pack of chalk on him.
-Kaa is a self-aware python with immense strength and limited shapechanging abilities.
-Kissa is a small female musician with a hissing accent and lizard eyes. Rumor goes that she used to be a lizardfolk(humanoid lizard societies are sometimes found at the ports the vessel stops at). Her music is bewildering.
-Copper young teenage girl with mental tricks.
-Brass, Copper's brother. Carries a lot of knives and has a few mental tricks of his own.

Fen's crew controls the library and service halls(which gives him control of any access to deep storage by non-crew). Fen will sometimes hire Kel and Dust to analyze things he finds in deep storage.

Other notables:
-The-light-that-moves. Dust: "Something guards the Captain's room and access to the crew quarters and luxury suites. Me and Almost tried finding out a few times... but all that ever happened was we saw a moving light. It's odd but that was enough to prevent us from pushing further. Every attempt ended the same way. Us both seeing a moving light."
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Brile's Men. Brile is a lithe swordsman with a fast tongue. He has about 20-30 sworn men and women who bear arms at his call. He controls the only non-crew entrance to the vessel and all of the "coach class" passenger rooms as well as the cafeteria and entertainment rooms. A trader of odd goods at every port he barters with natives... selling them items they would never find on their world for items that otherworlds have never known. He passes himself off as captain to those who do not go further into the vessel than the pub and social areas.

The vessel announces subtly when it is about to make port and leave port. Anyone who has been on for more than a year can tell about 24 hours in advance. Fen can tell about a month in advance.

Fen, Kel, and Almost have been here the longest by common reckoning.

The vessel's crew is untouchable and uninterruptable. Crew doors cannot be passed by non-crew no matter how knowledgeable you may be or how strong you are. At least so far as anyone knows.

For those who get stranded on the vessel(there are many passengers who never get stranded the vessel will regularly make port on a world for a year or more... and while on this world act within the world as a passenger/cruise vessel) it is easy to spend decades and never get past Brile's domain. And you can do so without ever feeling like you've explored it all. Brile uses his swornmen to control any other minor gangs in his area.

The vessel is huge on the inside. Huge like impossibly so. Total population of passengers is somewhere in the low thousands and yet the ones I've named are the only ones so far that have gone past the obvious passenger areas.

And yet... when you first visit... the vessel seems to be about right for a common passenger vessel on your world.

The Vessel has not always existed. It is obviously and purposefully made. The purpose though is unkown. The crew do guarantee that ports of call are not made for passengers or the trade that happens then. Any non-crew on the ship are happenchance. Like the dust found in the back of a traveling truck.... only there for a limited time.

Briles wants to maintain his control of the passengers.
Fen wants to find out more about the hidden treasures on the ship.
Almost wants to know about the ship itself and about its maker and crew.


Story plotline ideas:
View from a newly stranded passenger.
Short stories about some of the more wild ports of call.
Story about a particularly odd/dangerous item/box found in deep storage.
Story about Fessen's Crew's research into the ship and what it was created for.
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End story idea
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And that is that. I don't have much more to say in this post and will have to leave all further writing for another time.

Only three more weeks left.

Comments

Cap'n John said…
You mentioned the "passengers" seemed to have no purpose which may make writing their stories a little difficult, but it seems to me you could break them up into at least three different groups with different goals.

# 1. These people have willingly accepted that they'll probably never, ever get back home ever again, and so have have chosen to enjoy the ride and all the surprises that each new port brings. Question - does the ship actually dock anywhere? Or do new people/passengers just mysteriously appear on board as if "beamed up"? In either case, these people are enjoying the ride & meeting new people/races/aliens, etc.

2. In contrast to group #1, the people in group 2 refuse to accept that they'll never get back home and are constantly trying to gain access to the Captain so they can convince him (through fair means or foul) to return to their home. You may even have a group of 2s attempt to bypass the Captain and take over the ship in his apparent absence.

3. Like group 1, these people have accepted that they'll never return home again, but unlike group 1 who have decided to enjoy the ride, group 3 folks are constantly fighting among themselves to establish dominance and control of their own little area.

I think this is one way you could go about writing your story.
Dammerung said…
answer to question: (the ship "docks" on worlds by suddenly existing there. The outside visible portion of the ship is always something that makes sense to that world. Trade then happens in a manner that is exotic to that world but reconizable. So the ship might pretend to be a cruise ship on earth... cruise for a few years and then suddenly leave earth to appear on an alternate earth as a ruined but recently discovered stone pyramid with a portal inside. Anyone who is on board when the ship leaves.... well....)

As for your response. I really appreciate the input and will use it thanks.

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