Honestly? I can't remember if I ever really did, or if that was just something I ascribed to my in-story self. I suppose it's possible, but that was a very long time ago. I don't usually dream that way today. There will almost always be random shifts in setting and whatnot.

As for how much of what I end up writing comes to me in dreams, not much that I consciously remember. I have a lot of ideas as I'm getting ready to go to sleep (or, well, I do when I'm having ideas at all), and quite a few of my better ideas have come along in the morning, usually at shower time, but my dreams, at least lately, tend to be about my personal life (the ones that can be said to be about anything), not stories.

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

Uhh, I don't really have a day job, sir...

I'm doing some freelance writing here and there (unless you subscribe to Roads & Bridges or the Cianbro Corporation company newsletter, you probably haven't seen any of my work in that field) and working in a maddeningly desultory fashion on a couple of books.

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

There's a reason that Asuka gets a wave in the credits, sir.

--
Geoff Depew - Darth Mephron
Haberdasher to Androids, Dark Lord of Sith Tech Support.
"And Remember! Google is your Friend!!"

I can't recall there being a Perez Lake in UF - maybe you mean Perez Island, where Titans HQ is located?

Yes, both are named for comic artist George Pérez. In UF's case, it's a kind of backhanded credit - he was the lead artist on The New Teen Titans for ages back in the '80s, and though we're not using that version of the Titans, it still seemed only fair. :)

Perez Park and parts of New Avalon have similar internal naming schemes, too. All the little sub-zones in Perez Park are named after comic creators, and there are a number of places in New Avalon - Puckett's Landing, Perez Island, Waid Head (where the lighthouse marking the southern edge of the New Avalon Harbor channel is), and of course Claremont come to mind. In some cases, as with Perez Island and Puckett's Landing, there's a direct link; in others, there isn't. Claremont doesn't have much of anything to do with the actual works of Chris Claremont, for instance. I just thought it was a good name for a bohemian neighborhood.

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

With the baseball stadium, I always thought that Puckett's landing was named for Kirby Puckett.

It's possible that it would have if circumstances had been different, but he died well after I named that neighborhood; it was named for Kelley Puckett, who was one of the artists on Batgirl, because Batcave jr. is in that district. I only put Knights Field there later on (though still before Kirby died). Perhaps I was subconsciously directed to do so by having heard of Kirby, though, who knows?

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

Well, the second half of the question is (more or less) answered at the end of Transformers: Flesh and Steel, in which we see Inferno and Waspinator handed over to Derek for, uh, processing.

As for the former, well... that's kind of a long story. It all started not long after Derek accidentally became Emperor of the Race...

>Where would Priss rather have been spending her summer?

3WA Headquarters, Meizuri.

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

That's actually the scene that prompted the question -- I had envisioned
something like, Derek does his best but eventually decides that the only
hope for the insect-bots is if he can find a hive race for them, goes
looking, and somehow winds up being the war god as well as introducing
the bots to the Bugrom...

>As for the former, well... that's kind of a long story. It all
>started not long after Derek accidentally became Emperor of the
>Race...

... ooookay.

Presumably with somewhat less insane laughter than Jinnai would have done so...

-- Bob
-------------------
The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

Truth, superior sir.

Ja, -n

Derek has a remarkably good streak for converting huge chunks of cultures. Didn't he end up mellowing out the Invaders (of Zim fame) as well?

Stalinization Alert! Issue #1 of Cybertron Reloaded says:

Spending the summer in New Avalon would've been irritating
enough for Priss, who had planned to take some optional summer studies
at the Academy.

If she were going to the Academy, what was to be the subject of those optional summer studies?

Similar question about Meizuri - if she was going there, what was her assignment?

Wherever she was going, I've always thought she was written overly down about not going - almost as if she wasn't really going for classes (or an assignment), but rather because she wanted to be there because someone else was going to be there and she wanted to be with them. Yes? No? No Comment?

Jeanne

	Jeanne Hedge http://www.jhedge.com
"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem." -- Gabrielle of Potadeia

Spending the summer in New Avalon would've been irritating
enough for Priss, who had planned to take some optional summer studies
at the Academy.

How is that stalinization? The 3WA Academy is in the same place 3WA Headquarters is: Eleanor City, Meizuri.

You may be thinking of the Wedge Defense Force Academy, which is indeed in New Avalon, not far from NAIS.

>Wherever she was going, I've always thought she was written overly
>down about not going - almost as if she wasn't really going for
>classes (or an assignment), but rather because she wanted to be there
>because someone else was going to be there and she wanted to be
>with them. Yes? No? No Comment?

Yes and no. Yes, she's not particularly interested in the actual classes offered during summer session; but no, it has nothing to do with being with any particular person. She wanted to spend the summer at the academy because the academy is adjacent to Headquarters.

Why that is significant remains to be explored.

Honestly, guys, just because I didn't list every important plot development in the first 5 kilobytes of the first episode doesn't mean I'm never going to get to it. Good grief, did you get all up in George Lucas's grille for not following up on "No, Luke, I am your father" until Return of the Jedi too?

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

Maybe because I (at least) don't know/recall where the UF version of the 3WA Academy is located? (I'm not sure where the canon-version of same is supposed to be, if it was even mentioned)

>You may be thinking of the Wedge Defense Force Academy, which
>is indeed in New Avalon, not far from NAIS.

Possibly.

>>Wherever she was going, I've always thought she was written overly
>>down about not going - almost as if she wasn't really going for
>>classes (or an assignment), but rather because she wanted to be there
>>because someone else was going to be there and she wanted to be
>>with them. Yes? No? No Comment?
>
>Yes and no. Yes, she's not particularly interested in the actual
>classes offered during summer session; but no, it has nothing to do
>with being with any particular person. She wanted to spend the summer
>at the academy because the academy is adjacent to Headquarters.
>
>Why that is significant remains to be explored.

Given the stories already promised (such as the missing bits of the Symphony), I'm not holding my breath about ever seeing that exploration (assuming one was ever intended in the first place)

>Honestly, guys, just because I didn't list every important plot
>development in the first 5 kilobytes of the first episode doesn't mean
>I'm never going to get to it. Good grief, did you get in George
>Lucas's face for not following up on "No, Luke, I am your
>father" until Return of the Jedi too?

The thread is titled "Ask G Anything" - what kinds of questions did you expect? Invite people to ask questions and they will. (especially with years passing (literally) between the release of stories in all of your various active universes - people want answers and don't want to wait years to see if the answer is ever going to come)

As for Luke and his father, you knew that Lucas would get to it, and about when you were going to see it too.

Jeanne

	Jeanne Hedge http://www.jhedge.com
"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem." -- Gabrielle of Potadeia

Whatever we were expecting, "passive aggression disguised as questioning" was certainly not it, Jeanne.

Ardaniel

Well, I had rather hoped for fewer questions to which the answers were either already available or obviously planned for future releases. Maybe even a few that - gasp - didn't have to do with in-story stuff at all.

And just what the hell's in your bonnet today, anyway? I grant you I may have earned a snark or two about the lag time between releases, although quite frankly I don't see where I have much to apologize for given how much y'all are paying for all this, not to put too fine a point on it - but implying that I don't even intend to answer questions I've obviously raised on purpose in early numbered parts of unfinished series? That's fucking low. I'm not Geoff fucking Johns over here.

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

I'd like to take a second and say thanks to everyone else on the boards. These threads have gone on for four months now and you all have been excellently behaved, minded thread length, been more or less reasonable and well humored. It's been a lot of fun and even though it slowed a bit in the last month or so I'd like to see it continued because I'm sure it's a nice outlet for you guys and sometimes it does help us keep track of what's where and where we're going with things. That we've gone this long before getting a post like this makes me smile.

Jeanne: This is, essentially, a well-loved hobby for us and not our job. If you don't like it, if you don't like the way we're running things, if you're upset with the release schedule-- which has and will continue to be dictated by other events going on in our lives-- tough shit. As the host of Private-Mail, I'll ask you to take your grief elsewhere.

	Chad Collier Smirking Kilrathi The Captain of the Gravy Train

It's still in Gryphon's wetdrive as of 2389.

Peter Eng
--
I'm only a Charter Member because of the DCForum upgrade, and because there's no rank below "Clueless F!wit."

In 2410, the only remaining copy of the CLULESS executable is held in an IPO secure archive (which is not a euphemism for "the Chief's head"; that copy has been removed). The precise location of this archive is one of the organization's most closely guarded secrets, and is not recorded, even in the highest-clearance-level version of the BPGD.

In the IPO charter, there are two contingencies which permit the unsealing of this archive and the subsequent installation of the CLULESS compiler on an operational computer system. Neither has ever been met, since or before the IPO's founding.

(In addition, the damn thing is a binary executable for a frickin' DECstation, so the likelihood that there will be an operational computer system on which to install it is questionable at best.)

The source code no longer exists. Attempting to decompile the one remaining binary is prohibited under international law.

>And if I may ask a very anal question, is there any correlation
>between CLULESS and Yggdrasil?

There is, at least, no direct link between the CLULESS compiler and the World-Engine. Adding operational code to the World-Engine's runtime image is, as we have seen, logistically problematic at best. CLULESS operates at a level of reality that, depending on who you ask, is either higher or lower than the World-Engine's. How this can possibly be is not fully understood by anyone who has researched the problem, but admittedly research is difficult when placing the tool itself in a situation where it can be studied is illegal.

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

Offsides

[...] in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #π
#include <stdsig.h>

No. :)

Well, sure, OK, I'll reveal one of them - to counter the use of a similar construct, should one somehow come to exist, by a hostile power or for criminal intent. After all, the only defense against a Cosmic Cube is another Cosmic Cube.

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

I'm guessing something along the Ragnarok-time damage to the World Engine would probably qualify there, too. Though the concept of wedding a DECstation to a punch-carded steampunk machine strikes me a method of last resort.

>In 2410, the only remaining copy of the CLULESS executable is held in
>an IPO secure archive (which is not a euphemism for "the Chief's
>head"; that copy has been removed).

Interesting...

When was CLULESS locked up?

And is the archive hidden in plain sight?

Sometime between 2390 and 2410. I'm not all that concerned as to the exact point; it was probably sometime in the 2390s, when the IPO was getting geared up and it occurred to the Chief that he'd probably be in the field more, and as such should probably not be carrying around incredibly dangerous metaweapons in his head.

>And is the archive hidden in plain sight?

No, it's hidden very much out of plain sight.

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

Very understandable.

>>And is the archive hidden in plain sight?
>
>No, it's hidden very much out of plain sight.

So that would rule out the "purloined letter" approach...

>In the IPO charter, there are two contingencies which permit the
>unsealing of this archive and the subsequent installation of the
>CLULESS compiler on an operational computer system. Neither has ever
>been met, since or before the IPO's founding.
>
>(In addition, the damn thing is a binary executable for a frickin'
>DECstation, so the likelihood that there will be an
>operational computer system on which to install it is questionable at
>best.)
>

Couldn't computers emulate what a DECstation does, muchlike we have DOS emulation on PCs today?

Sure. But is there demand for such a thing? DOS emulation is for running DOS programs, and people want to play their old games.

There might be a demand for a DECstation emulator now, in some small area. By the twenty-fifth century in UF, it's possible that most of the people who know what a DECstation was are original WDF, and the rest are historians.

So there's almost no need for a DECstation emulator short of running CLULESS. That means that the people who would write one have to know about CLULESS (a short list) and be able to program up a DECstation emulator (a very short list, requiring knowledge of twenty-fifth century programming and DECstation systems.) The intersection of those two groups is probably smaller than five people.

Peter Eng
--
I'm only a Charter Member because of the DCForum upgrade, and because there's no rank below "Clueless F!wit."

Maybe. Or maybe CLULESS is such an arcane thing that it knows the difference between running on the properly anointed silicon and being deceived by some fancy-pants emulation shell.

Or maybe this just shouldn't be examined too closely.

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

Well, the lack of A does not necesarily imply B in this case, but no, no one (at least no one involved in that story) was able to figure out what had gone on there. Presumably, once Valiant and Kuratai secured the scene and carried out a preliminary investigation, the matter was handed off to the local authorities, in which case neither ship would ever have heard anything more about it.

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

Oh, probably. I seem to recall having used Querl Dox as the recipient in one of my fake IPO e-memos at some point, but I may have reconsidered and not ended up releasing it that way.

>If so, are they
>Twelfth Level Intellects or do they use the UF-analogue for I.Q.?

There are a number of different metrics for gauging intellectual power in the 25th century. All have their strengths and weaknesses. The Wolfe-DeKok Adjusted Index is the one most commonly accepted as reasonably close to devoid of cultural and/or educational bias, so it's more or less the de facto universal standard. The unique thing about the Coluan Intellect Scale is that it can be applied not only to individuals, but also to groups, and it can (with a little intellectual maneuvering, at which Coluans generally excel) be applied without a direct assessment, so that, for instance, an estimate of a deceased person's or fallen civilization's Intellect Level can be made based on the evidence left behind.

The problem with the Coluan Intellect Scale is that, well, not to put too fine a point on it, it tends to favor Coluans and reflect Coluan cultural and intellectual arrogance. The Coluan civilization in general has a pretty marked tendency toward self-congratulation. Their experts admit of precious few Level 12 intellects outside their own civilization. Even the great Vulcan polymath T'Plava, who mastered such diverse fields as hydraulics, the integral calculus, esoteric kadesh poetry, optical theory, and general cosmic relativism in the 15th century B.C., only rates a 10 on the official Coluan scale, which most Vulcan scholars (by which I mean people who study Vulcan history and scholarship, not necessarily ethnic Vulcans) find just short of scandalous. A Coluan foreign minister of the 21st century caused a minor international scandal by remarking at a United Galactica Assembly session that his government considered the Salusian civilization, as a whole, to be at best a Level 8 intellect.

>Also, if there are Twelfth Levels Intellects, is Skuld a thirteen?

The natural tendency among Coluan assessors of such matters would be to dismiss most of her accomplishments as the products of irrational shortcuts (that is, magic) rather than as anything representative of her intellectual powers. Coluans, as a rule, dislike and distrust mystics, and consider them essentially cheaters in the great game of brainpower.

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

Assuming "precious few" is greater than zero, which non-Coluans have reached twelve on their scale? Have we met them thus far in the UF-verse?

Hmm. Are there ever disagreements in cases where the application is done without direct assessment?

I can see some Coluan analysts being utterly convinced that there has never been a twelfth-level intellect that was not a Coluan, while others are convinced that Whatsisname Don'tmatter was the first non-Coluan to have a twelfth-level intellect.

Peter Eng
---
For a twelfth-level intellect, that guy can be pretty stupid sometimes.

Heh. There's never not a disagreement. The Coluans have redefined the state of the art in Internet flamewars over the centuries. :)

--G.
"I find that an offensive set of remarks, sir." "I congratulate you on your perspicacity, sir!"
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/

The UF versions started out based on the last form of the TV/OVA/movie designs (the rev from Flight 005 Conspiracy), and have evolved from there.

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

I don't think I would call Slaarti the Hutt "humanoid".

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

As opposed to just making a new thread? It's not like we have to pay for them. :)

>As can be seen in the latest 2 in 1 cover, it looks like UF!G has
>adopted a kilt as part of his 'fightin uniform'. He's been drawn in
>one before, too, which makes that appearance seem less of a 'one off'
>thing.
>
>So, the Q for RL!G... When did that change happen?

(shrug) No idea. I had Dave draw him in a Utilikilt for the Tales of the Lensmen cover because, if memory serves, around that time Dave was bitching that everybody in the IPO wears BDU pants and drover coats, and I felt like being a bit silly in addressing his complaint.

Anyway, UF characters aren't characters in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon; they don't always wear exactly the same clothes (just look at Wakaba). So it's not like there was a specific day where the Chief would've said, "Henceforth I shall wear a charcoal gray Utilikilt!" It's just that he has (at least) one, and has been known to wear it. He doesn't wear that blue commando sweater every day either. :)

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