LAST EDITED ON Dec-11-01 AT 03:14 AM (EST)

LAST EDITED ON Dec-11-01 AT 03:10 AM (EST)

>>Nall can be invoked? That's new and different.

Well, not -new-, but certainly different. See? Nall -is-
a Dragon. Not that we doubted. n.n

>Yup. Any Great Dragon can be, by a sufficiently powerful sorcerer who
>knows the dragon's Name.
>
>(So, for that matter, can the gods... )

Yeah - when I saw

        Mia saw him coming, felt time stretch, and invoked the only
source of power she could think of off the top of her head.

I had a brief heady image of her invoking -Corwin-. But for some
reason I'm curiously reluctant to think about that. o.O

>>For second, I was seeing a serious melee in the offing. Klayvor is
>>lucky he wasn't fighting the entire IDS in turn.
>
>Mm. Well, if he had actually managed to connect with that last
>attack, then you'd have had your serious melee - I don't think there's
>any way Klayvor would have left that room alive. (HINT: You don't
>commit an underhanded murder when there's a
>Valkyrie-and-arguably-a-half in the room. Cast in the name of God,
>ye not guilty.)

It's just as well, even disregarding (heaven forfend) the notion
of Mia getting killed - after all, then they'd have to clean up
the mess. Blood has -such- a nasty tendancy to stain...

..Wait. Arguably-a-half? Utena, yes? Since there was the whole
pointing-out-of-runes and all. Tho my mind immediately volunteered
a counter-argument for Kaitlyn.

On a side note, it was very very -very- highly nifty to see Zargh
Thalekh prove that he can be cool, too. I kept forgetting 'the very
soul of honor' and remembering only the stuffiness part.

>>So, does the end mean the Amanda/Rina/Devlin dynamic will be
>>present--at least ocaissionally--at DSM?
>

*snip*

>and on, and as for Devlin, well, they have to give him vacations
>sometime...

Yes, but do Rina and Amanda -share-? n.n

*mallets herself* Sorry, sorry. (not looking sorry in the least) n.n

>>I thought it was cool that Skuld was at the Turing Board as a fellow
>>researcher/roboticist as opposed to 'Skuld, Norse Godess.'
Yah. instead she was Skuld Ravenhair, Eminent Roboticist.
Much niftiness. n.n

>Well, y'know, the general public's not really dialed into the whole
>goddess thing. Skuld and her sisters don't try to maintain secrecy
>like they used to back when Keiichi was in school, but most people who
>hear about it tend to dismiss it as a harmless affectation. You know,
>like you would if you knew somebody who called himself, say, the Roman
>God of Unreal Tournament.
That sounds curiously like a reference...

>--G.

--Waywren
Kawaii ain't just a privlege, it's a RIGHT! n.n
(and hanging a gorgeous print of Skuld-megami over your ageing
computer can keep it from dying. Beleive me, I -know-. n.n;)

PS. Before I forget...

*splits into a billion zillion chibis, all of whom wave fans and
chorus in unison* DEREK! -YAY!-

(I miss him, even tho I never met him. You guys must be the best
friends anyone could ever have.)

PPS. I forgot, of course. Sheesh, how many edits am I gonna MAKE?

She isn't certain of his Name (which is different from his name in a fashion that is only of interest to sorcerers), so she wouldn't have turned to him in such an immediate emergency anyway.

>On a side note, it was very very -very- highly nifty to see Zargh
>Thalekh prove that he can be cool, too. I kept forgetting 'the very
>soul of honor' and remembering only the stuffiness part.

:) Yeah, I enjoyed giving Zargh a chance to show what he's made of. It's difficult to earn his respect, but once you have, he's not stingy with it. (Exactly how the sutai-Tenjou managed that is a story for another time; suffice it to say, for now, that she and Corwin weren't gone the whole summer, end to end. They stopped in, if not at the Castle, then at least to meet folks at B5 on several occasions while passing through the sector.)

>>and on, and as for Devlin, well, they have to give him vacations
>>sometime...
>
>Yes, but do Rina and Amanda -share-? n.n

I should think this was already established. Go and look at Roses in Springtime again...

>>like you would if you knew somebody who called himself, say, the Roman
>>God of Unreal Tournament.
>
>That sounds curiously like a reference...

Nope, I just made it up. Got a nice ring to it, though.

>(and hanging a gorgeous print of Skuld-megami over your ageing
>computer
>can keep it from dying. n.n;)

Heh. I've got a printout of Li Kohran up there right now; she's not quite as reliable as Skuld, but I like to give the underdogs a chance now and again, and she's so earnest. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

*nods* I thought it might be something like that. When I could
think, anyway. Finals. Gaaah. n.n;;

>
>>On a side note, it was very very -very- highly nifty to see Zargh
>>Thalekh prove that he can be cool, too. I kept forgetting 'the very
>>soul of honor' and remembering only the stuffiness part.
>
>:) Yeah, I enjoyed giving Zargh a chance to show what he's made of.
>It's difficult to earn his respect, but once you have, he's not stingy
>with it. (Exactly how the sutai-Tenjou managed that is a story
>for another time; suffice it to say, for now, that she and Corwin
>weren't gone the whole summer, end to end. They stopped in, if
>not at the Castle, then at least to meet folks at B5 on several
>occasions while passing through the sector.)

Oh -wow-. You're going to tell us about this sometime, right?
Wait, wait, sorry. They're done when they're done. But you -sound-
like you're going to tell us. Oh I hope you are.

...ehehe. Sorry. Not enough sugar and caffeine. n.n

>
>>>and on, and as for Devlin, well, they have to give him vacations
>>>sometime...
>>
>>Yes, but do Rina and Amanda -share-? n.n
>
>I should think this was already established. Go and look at Roses
>in Springtime again...

It was more in the nature of a bad joke - in that they'd 'take up
all his time'... but hai. n.n

>>(and hanging a gorgeous print of Skuld-megami over your ageing
>>computer can keep it from dying. n.n;)
>
>Heh. I've got a printout of Li Kohran up there right now; she's not
>quite as reliable as Skuld, but I like to give the underdogs a chance
>now and again, and she's so earnest. :)

Mm. Li-sama. Mmmmmmm. *.* I saw just enough Sakura Taisen to get
the mental image of most of the people in Peter Moreau right -
(which, given the day it came out, felt rather like a birthday
present n.n) - but it was enough to grok fully that Li Kohran Doth
Truely Rock. n.n v

>--G.

--Wren
Kawaii ain't just a privlege, it's a RIGHT! n.n

Utena is the half (she's got the weapon, but she's not dead). Corwin would be the whole.

-----------------------------------
Chris can't handle mythology

Valkyrie aren't dead, they're minor divinities. You're thinking of the Einherjar, the Honored Dead who fight in Valhalla. The Valkyrie recruit the Einherjar.

And yes, the half-a-Valkyrie is Utena. Skuld has a very high regard for her - high enough to offer her a place among the Valkyrior - but she knows that Utena wouldn't take it, because of her other unfinished metaphysical business.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

"Ho ho ho, tee hee hee, Utena the half a Valkyrie"

------------------------
Chad Collier--...and I'll deny it in the morning.
Digital Bitch
J. Random VFX Company

I thought something about my statement seemed off.

>And yes, the half-a-Valkyrie is Utena. Skuld has a very high regard
>for her - high enough to offer her a place among the Valkyrior - but
>she knows that Utena wouldn't take it, because of her other unfinished
>metaphysical business.

Man, once Utena clears up her unfinished business in Cephiro, she's gonna have her pick of positions in... well, I guess it would be Midgard.

-----------------------------------
Chris can't handle Yggdrssl*

* I think I put too many vowels in there, but I mean the World Tree all the same

Too *many*? Of course, english isn't my native language, but...to me, you missed a few. An 'a' and an 'i' to be exact. Yggdrassil. Or was it a joke that I completely missed?

-Mooneyes

"Although I can accept talking scarecrows, lions
and great wizards of emerald cities, I find it hard
to believe there is no paperwork involved when
your house lands on a witch."
- Dave James

See "Elegy for an Exiled Prince." Gryphon tells Utena that Skuld thinks U. could be a Valkyrie if she wanted.

-- Bob
---------------
In Xanadu did Newton-John a stately disco dome decree...

Didn't know that... Guess its a good thing (tm) Mia did.

>>For second, I was seeing a serious melee in the offing. Klayvor is
>>lucky he wasn't fighting the entire IDS in turn.
>
>Mm. Well, if he had actually managed to connect with that last
>attack, then you'd have had your serious melee - I don't think there's
>any way Klayvor would have left that room alive. (HINT: You don't
>commit an underhanded murder when there's a
>Valkyrie-and-arguably-a-half in the room. Cast in the name of God,
>ye not guilty.)

I thought the mere fact that a samurai master, a demi-god, their friends, and a half dozen swords, one magical staff, and the Klingon ambassador were in the same time zone--much less closer--would have been a deterrent. That being said, Moose should have pinched Klayvor's ears together. Superfluous? Maybe. Funny? Yes. Likely? Not my call.

>>So, does the end mean the Amanda/Rina/Devlin dynamic will be
>>present--at least ocaissionally--at DSM?
>
>I'm not sure how often all three of them will be around - Devlin is
>quite some distance away, after all - but Amanda and Rina will be in
>the system. They'll be too busy to attend the Institute, of course,
>but they won't be far, so it should be possible for them to appear off
>and on, and as for Devlin, well, they have to give him vacations
>sometime...

Well, okay then...as long as they don't vanish. *grin* Seems that some significant amount of time was spent on the development of them, and I'd hate to see that slip away.

>>I thought it was cool that Skuld was at the Turing Board as a fellow
>>researcher/roboticist as opposed to 'Skuld, Norse Godess.'
>
>Well, y'know, the general public's not really dialed into the whole
>goddess thing. Skuld and her sisters don't try to maintain secrecy
>like they used to back when Keiichi was in school, but most people who
>hear about it tend to dismiss it as a harmless affectation. You know,
>like you would if you knew somebody who called himself, say, the Roman
>God of Unreal Tournament.

Point taken. However, one would think that a culture that has four-hundred- year-old college kids in it could see almost anything as plausible.

Bodhi

It's like 0320-ish in the the Oh my God, what are we doing up this late 'ning. (Sorry, Gryph, it amused me in 1998 and it amuses me now) I be crashing.

Yeah, but now I'm worried about ME :)

>I thought the mere fact that a samurai master, a demi-god, their
>friends, and a half dozen swords, one magical staff, and the Klingon
>ambassador were in the same time zone--much less closer--would have
>been a deterrent.

I've never seen a full-blooded Klingon with common sense when it comes to a fight. You could have been pointing the Wayward Son at someone like him and he still wouldn't have caught on.

>Point taken. However, one would think that a culture that has
>four-hundred- year-old college kids in it could see almost anything as
>plausible.

I asked him the same thing a while back. Basicly, people all have their own view of the Gods. There is no way most of them would accept the real thing due to how it differs from what they want it to be. Mundanes are like that. Smart beings like us know that we can't always be right. Just be sure to show them the proper respect.

>It's like 0320-ish in the the Oh my God, what are we doing up this
>late 'ning. (Sorry, Gryph, it amused me in 1998 and it amuses me now)

I managed to get other people at school using those phrases before I left. Sadly, they still don't read UF. Oh well, there's always University.

Matrix Dragon
"You invoked me to help fix a door?!"

Ah, don't be. Invocation doesn't hurt, it's just a bit... alarming... the first time. :)

--truss.

Ah, but some of us get annoyed with the constant invoking. I mean, there you are, trying to get something delicate done, like creating an entire ecosystem, and bang! Invocation.

That's why some of us don't give out our real Names to just every spellcaster in the multiverse.

Ebony the Black Dragon
aka Draco Draconis Ebenium
known to Spellcasters Local No. 127 as Aaron F. Johnson,
Senior Editor, Living Room Games,
http://www.lrgames.com

...just the ones who give really good headscritches.

--truss.

Well, if they can get rid of this annoying itch in my neck scales, I won't mind. Or offer a good snack when I'm invoked.

Matrix Dragon
"Cardassians taste good with melted cheese."

>Mm. Well, if he had actually managed to connect with that last
>attack, then you'd have had your serious melee - I don't think there's
>any way Klayvor would have left that room alive. (HINT: You don't
>commit an underhanded murder when there's a
>Valkyrie-and-arguably-a-half in the room. Cast in the name of God,
>ye not guilty.)
>
I don't know... somthing tells me that Kate and Utena have just enough control to keep him alive long enough to stand trial - just for the additional humiliation effect...

Offsides

#include <truenames.h>

#91;...#93; in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #pi;
#include <stdsig.h>

Well, Nall has such difficulty convincing people that he really is a dragon in the first place... I guess he feels the need to pull out all the stops. :)

--truss.

(FYI, the spell that Mia used in that scene -- White Dragon Protect -- is pulled directly from the Lunar games. And in Lunar 2, that very same "incantation" gets used. :)

Of course it's not recognized as an official science...

"Nall" isn't, necessarily. After all, the incantation was in a different language; that's why it had ><s around it.

>I don't know... somthing tells me that Kate and Utena have just
>enough control to keep him alive long enough to stand trial - just for
>the additional humiliation effect...

If he had just seriously injured, probably killed, Mia?

No.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

>>Nall can be invoked? That's new and different.
>
>Yup. Any Great Dragon can be, by a sufficiently powerful sorcerer who
>knows the dragon's Name.

I can see Nall for the next few days:

NALL: I was *invoked*, my phenomial magical power channeled....

CORWIN: Shut UP Nall, I thought you said you weren't going to let go
to your head.

Brad, Who wonders if Nall's ego will ever return to normal.

Personally, I just imagined Nall asking, with a massive wink, for a cigarette.

-- Sean --

http://www.thebrokenlink.org The Broken Link 4.0 is live!
"All tribal myths are true, for a given value of 'true'." -- Terry Pratchett
Follow my random thoughts
Follow my creative process

It's a measure of how tired Nall was after his invocation (after all, for a dragon, he's still a child) that he only said "no problem" when Mia told him she was honored to have been his first, instead of asking, "Was it good for you too?" He'll be kicking himself for missing the opportunity later.

:)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

Seriously :). I would like to have seen that, if only for Mia's reaction ^_^.

-- Sean --

http://www.thebrokenlink.org The Broken Link 4.0 is live!
"All tribal myths are true, for a given value of 'true'." -- Terry Pratchett
Follow my random thoughts
Follow my creative process

In all likelyhood, she'd die of embrassment.

Brad

Heh. I always imagine Nall as a white-colored Salem from _Sabrina_ (TV series).

Hnh, glad I'm not the only one.

Pull the trigger!

Excuse me, I think I'll just stand over here on this side of the room...well away from the blast radius.

Bodhi

"You missed Tyr's calvary act..."
"They were playing Wagner, it was the most fun I've had in about six months."

Boom!

Exactly that. "Alas, poor Shadowhavoc..."

Nobody cared to know him.:)

Can't blame 'em.

I shouldn't worry if I were you... who d'ya think -wrote- that dialogue? }:-{D

Seriously, Mac has become a camera-hog to the point that he's beginning to irritate his -creator.- I'm relatively certain that over half the SOS material to hit the cutting-room floor has been Mac-related, simply because he keeps ambushing me in the mental hallways a la William Shatner with proposed rewrites to give him more screen time.

And he was originally brought on because we needed a warm body to fill out G'Kron's double room at Galaxy House... jeez...

Redneck

Red wizard needs money badly...
www.wlpcomics.com
White Lightning Productions - don't tell the Pope

<snicker> oooh, this is going to spawn a completely new thread...

t.

Trigger Argee
trigger_argee@hotmail.com
Manon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

Trigger Argee
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

Besides, with the massive evolution of the Freespacer society, some background stories to fill in the readers knowledge certainly wouldn't be objected to on my end...

Offsides

#include <Mac.h>

#91;...#93; in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #pi;
#include <stdsig.h>

Mac wants to be involved with -everything.- Apparently he's begun going over my head to talk to Gryphon direct- I didn't know Mac was going to be at Turing III until that scene was in the can.

>Besides, with the massive evolution of the Freespacer society, some
>background stories to fill in the readers knowledge certainly wouldn't
>be objected to on my end...

I've made an experiment in that direction, but there's two problems with it: (1) other projects, including SOS snippets and 'Elements of Command,' have taken up most of my creative energy), and (2) the story barely has Mac in it at all, because he's five years old at the time. What's left is an introduction to a story that introduces the entire McKenzie clan, as of 2394 or so, including Mac's smuggler grandfather, the one who -named- him.

Maybe I ought to do a poll asking the audience which story I should work on next...

Redneck (except Twilight Seal Seven, we KNOW about that one already...)

Red wizard needs money badly...
www.wlpcomics.com
White Lightning Productions - don't tell the Pope

No, that was just logical; they're going to want everyone who might possibly have some useful input on deck for this occasion, and that includes all the former Galaxy Housers. She didn't live there long, but it was at an important time in her life.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor in Chief, Netadmin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

I'm not worried....I just tend to refrain from picking on people I don't know well yet. I've been reading the EPU stories for years, but I'm fairly new to the idea of conversing with the authors so familiarly.

>Seriously, Mac has become a camera-hog to the point that he's
>beginning to irritate his -creator.- I'm relatively certain that over
>half the SOS material to hit the cutting-room floor has been
>Mac-related, simply because he keeps ambushing me in the mental
>hallways a la William Shatner with proposed rewrites to give him more
>screen time.
>
>And he was originally brought on because we needed a warm body to fill
>out G'Kron's double room at Galaxy House... jeez...

Well, with the Lovely Angels, UF-ReRob, R-Type and Devlin all temporarily 'off-screen' maybe Mac should get a little more screen time. From what I've read, most everybody in the Forum here likes him.

Just a thought....that and sixty cents will get you a coke.

Bodhi

I don't need the saluting, but I like the saluting.

Well, UF has been writing itself for nearly a decade, why stop.

*Ponders mental image Mac backstage with his fellow SOS scene stealer
Katrina Drangonaar sharing a Coke, playing a Hand of Go-Fish and
laughing at how they "messed with the writers minds*

Brad, *Why Go Fish, See "Source Material"

It's easy to see how Kira got more screen time. Devlin only took a little 'convincing' after all....

Matrix Dragon, worried about poor Carters stamina...
"Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger." --J.R.R. Tolkien
"Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for obvious reasons." -Matrix Dragon

Quite. More importantly, though, Rina's character is pro-active, whereas Mac is reactive in the extreme. He has a talent, or handicap, which Terry Pratchett describes very well as 'a thundering ability to focus.' The main thing he's focused on is getting into the best engineering college possible, and he's so focused on that that, as a character, he's very difficult to shift to other things. Like Moose and G'Kron agree, it takes a very large brick.

He has a number of lesser obsessions. His bass guitar lessons are one such; when he sets out to do something at all, he sets out to do it -well-. Flying is another such lesser obsession. The reason Moose and G'Kron sighed relief at Mac's prospective departure was that he was showing signs of turning the Duelists' Castle renovation into one of his obsessions.

Here's the problem; Mac, under an obsession, becomes almost impossible to be around in his enthusiasm for the project (if you're involved) or almost impossible to be around because he practically ignores you (if you're a distraction). The proper point to catch Mac- in the middle of his extremes- is when he's dealing with a distraction... like, say, pre-HR Liza Broadbank or the escape from Worcester. This is not easy to set up, and is so -very- not easy to write a story based on, because it takes a major distraction to get Mac to act at all.

Unfortunately, Mac-the-actor wants Mac-the-character to tag along on -everything-, regardless of his actual contribution to the group (usually minimal). I'm trying to consider ways where Mac can be a major story-mover here and there, but generally it's not in the character to be so, and when it is it's often too annoying and inconvenient to keep.

As one final note: of all the cast, Mac is second behind only G'Kron as the -least able- to rescue -anybody- from -anything-. Last Action Hero he ain't, although he is a good shot.

Redneck (so what's to do with him?)

Red wizard needs money badly...
www.wlpcomics.com
White Lightning Productions - don't tell the Pope

Simple: You need a reaction shot, Mac's your man.

Need to put several people in danger? Mac should be one of them. (And he'd probably work as the pivot of the dilemma, as he (partially) did in Hunted Rose.)

Need somebody to explain some minutia of something? Mac is the second choice for most of those.

But Mac is best used as the Xander Harris of the Duelists; not exactly competent at any one thing of any importance to the group, but possessed of insight many others lack.

Thanks
Luc "If Utena is Buffy, who's Giles?" French

Miki. And/or Dorothy, if you wanna use the whole of the SOS gang.

Blessed be.
Nathan Baxter