Writing Prompts

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entity2636
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by entity2636 »

@Werra about Duskcrown (for some reason I always want to call her Dustcrown and have to force myself not to) - looks like we have a Four-Star Badass here :twisted:

And about switching castes - well, switching from Listel to Soroin is a rather substantial downgrade, i.e. quitting your job as a nuclear physicist and going to serve in the army as infantry. Should be possible alright since Soroin as your bread-and-butter greenshirts have literally zero requirements aside from being able-bodied, so no one should mind much if the person so chooses; it would be near impossible to do the other way around since a Listel is required to have a specific genetic trait - eidetic memory. A Mizol, for comparison, is more a state of mind and being ~good~ at telepathy, rather than special genetic traits, so if one's a big enough asshole and good enough in telepathy, one should be able to become a Mizol easily enough.

Also it is true that one isn't born a Torrai, one becomes a Torrai after reaching a high enough rank of one's own caste/service branch and passes the qualification tests. I don't remember whether in canon support castes like Listels, Doranzers or Gallen can become Torrai, but my sense of common sense says that if that person is sufficiently qualified, expresses said wish and has support, they could become Sorimi first, go to the academy and study to become real captains (Torrets) and above.

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Werra
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Werra »

Hopefully Duskcrown has enough character flaws to make her believable, despite the badassitude. Which I think isn't that outlandish. If you live for 200 years of youthful vigor, you do pick up quite a lot of skills.

Insider
The support castes such as the Listel or Doranzer or Gallen are generally entirely outside of the regular chain of command, and generally can rise only into the upper echelons of their own internal caste hierarchies.
But also this.
Any caste member can be promoted to Torrai; once you go high enough in your own caste, there's nowhere higher to go except Torrai. That's why there are few caste ranks higher than O5 and no Torrai rank lower than O5. The internal hierarchy of each caste will have Torrai at the top, and the Diadem will have Torrai members from the appropriate specialty castes for the equivalent positions of Surgeon General, CIA Director, Marine Commandant, etc.
So Torrai membership can be attained by all castes, but support castes only have full authority in their own caste?

In any case one of the reasons why Duskcrown might have decided to switch.

That and not wanting to be a glorified Alexa.

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dragoongfa
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by dragoongfa »

I can imagine a Listel being switched to the Soroin caste if she shows both the necessary aptitude and has a matron backing her up. Ashrain switched from the Teidar to the Soroin so she could be a Fleet captain instead of a marine but I am guessing that she used some family connections (grand niece of the Emperor and all that).

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Werra
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Werra »

Did she switch or got promoted the usual way? Her connections might have gotten her duty with SG51.

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dragoongfa
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by dragoongfa »

According to word of God:

Switched to Soroin (probably with connections), then promoted to the Torrai caste (probably on merit) and then was assigned to the Imperial guard (it's easy to see that the Emperor that had a coup against her would want to have loyal captains in her guards). She requested a transfer to the front lines to prove her worth and was assigned to the 51st (an other way to make use of her loyalty to the family, by being a captain more loyal to the throne than her commander).

novius
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by novius »

Whew. That was surprisingly difficult to write. Still some hours to spend until Duskcrown, but the stage is set...

Enjoy! :)

Kensai
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Kensai »

first time post.

To all of you writing this story, this is a very solid and outstanding piece of work... so much so, I had to register so I could tell you guys directly.

If I had the chops for it, I'd love to add to the story but I do not think I could do the current characters any justice.

Keep on doing what you are doing- it is very much appreciated, folks.
The Philosophical Kensai

Still trying to master my craft...
As all Saints of the Sword do.

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Werra
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Werra »

If you want to contribute, by all means, contribute.

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dragoongfa
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by dragoongfa »

I think that I have a basic outline for the next part, it is going to take a while though.

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Werra
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Werra »

Let's see if I can't move things along with New Frontiers after the hiatus.

Have some bios on the characters I just introduced. Pick from it what you want, or do it your own way. It's six people, afterall.

Mizol Parat Nelonial
SpoilerShow
Age: 80s
Height: 174
Skin: white
Hair: bangs and ponytail, black
Origin: Perrein

Nelonial is the leader of the expedition. She has been transfered to Deinar to help establish the Mizol cast on the planet. As such she is predominantly occupied with training and teaching and regularly takes out Mizol and other volunteers on indefinite lease to the Mizol cast out on missions of data gathering.
Before her current posting Nelonial has taken part in several semi official missions on Mannadi worlds to keep tabs and a lid on Mannadi ambitions of rebuilding and remilitarisation. She is an experienced, level headed Mizol who can find the most opportune course of action, be that stealth, violence or deals to be made.
Mizol Lennai Songbird
SpoilerShow
Age: 14
Height: 168
Skin: deep blue
Hair: a relative short brown bob cut
Origin: Deinar

Songbird is a rather fresh Mizol from Deinar. She is sorrt of apprenticed to Nelonial to help her set up excursions and learn the trade. As she is still mostly green, she tends to be full of youthful vigor and enthusiasm. As a Mizol she is above average curious and has a natural talent in languages above normal even for a Mizol.
During the training excursions she is Nelonials second hand, but well aware, that it's only training. She is diligent in her duties and tends to see the reasons, if not the wisdom of Nelonials decisions in most matters. Working together with other castes is slowly opening her eyes to the world.
Listel Tozet Coral
SpoilerShow
Age: late 40s
Height: 182
Skin: standard blue
Hair: strongly curled light pink hair
Origin: a moon habitat close to Taben

As opposed to shipboard Loroi, Coral served in an infantry regiment as a Listel. Her regiment was stationed in Mannadi space last. Coral took part in frontline fighting and has many unpleasant tales to tell about aliens and the telepathic resistance of the Mannadi in particular. Coral is a tough warrior and doesn't shy away from getting her hands dirty and keeps a cool and somewhat ruthless mind in danger.
During her deployment she worked loosely with Nelonial and there the Mizol convinced her to volunteer to work with the Mizol. She is still adjusting to shipboard life but serves well as a data analyst for Mizol projects. Corals experience means she is often along on planetside excursions to help train the greenhorns. She also enjoys the time planetside.
Gallen Ranzadi Neat
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Age: 19
Height: 166
Skin: dark grey
Hair: blond and loosely pulled to the back of her head
Origin: an arid world in the Deinar sector

Neat is a Gallen specialist for geology, caves and construction, in particular Soia structures. She is with the Mizol to give her expertise on expeditions to possible Soia structures. While she is already used to the work, she doesn't care for the unsavory parts of Mizol duties and tries to ignore them. While she slacked a bit when it comes to maintaining her infantrist skills, she is a very skilled Gallen and actively working on improving.
Soroin Pideir Bast
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Age: 15
Height: 175
Skin:light blue
Hair: beige locks
Origin: Deinar

Bast is a young warrior that signed up for Mizol duty as a way to get out of a boring looking trajectory as backrow warrior for civic guard duty. She is still inexperienced but adjusting well to shipboard life and being around Mizol and sometimes aliens.
As a Soroin she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty, which also includes guard duty to Mizol prisoners. Her stoic nature serves her well there, as many criminal prisoners tend to attempt some form of deal or bribe.
Tenoin Narrat Anchor
SpoilerShow
Age: 16
Height: 171
Skin: light blue
Hair: blue with a tight knot behind
Origin: Taben

Anchor serves as a Tenoin to ferry the Mizol squads from the space station they're stationed to the surface. That means she regularly takes part in these excursions. She most often sticks around and helps set up equipment. Sometimes she has to make a speedy/stealthy recovery of operatives for training purposes.
She is a very reliable pilot with little tendency for brash maneuvers, but had extensive training in adavenced maneuvers since she joined up with the Mizol.
As a Tenoin she has very little to do with the actual Mizol duties and is not worried about what they might be up to. Her current post means she gets training and experience both in space flight and atmospheric flight, which is good for her career.

novius
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by novius »

Interesting setup with these characters with a number of goals that could even conflict each other when pressed. Would be interesting to see how they could fare with a situation they could have never prepared for... :)

EDIT: I already have an outline how the initial confrontation would go...

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dragoongfa
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by dragoongfa »

Minor tidbit about the last part of New Frontier, the Loroi use particle blasters, not portable plasma weapons. It's a big difference in effective destructability in case someone decides to bring an energy weapon into the fray.

Particle blasters are covered here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle-beam_weapon

Plasma weapons are loosely covered here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_weapon

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Werra
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Werra »

Edited that. Don't know when the Loroi switched to particle weapons, so I kept it unspecific.

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dragoongfa
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by dragoongfa »

Working on the next part of Beacons, it has been tricky to nail down and I have been doing overtime at work the entire week. If I don't have it nailed down tomorrow I will post the first part so someone else can continue from that point.

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Werra
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Werra »

SpoilerShow
In how much detail do you plan to describe the crossfire match(es)?

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dragoongfa
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by dragoongfa »

SpoilerShow
Not much detail, not enough stuff set in stone to do that. I will put in the details that Arioch gave and highlight some more rules but generally speaking I will describe the game as Arioch put it, as a game that simulates fleet movement and engagements. The one rule I am going to put in stone for the story to be tied in with the game is that the movement phases are separate from the engagement phase. The players move the pawns in their turn and when their turn is done they declare their targets for the 'engagement/attack' if applicable.

I want to go that way because in space the engagement will happen when both sides commit to it, fleet movements and positioning are done in advance and battles take several hours at the least, weeks if not months at the most depending on tactical and strategic developments.

All in all I will keep things vague but Alex will comment through his thoughts that if Chess represents a war between nations then Crossfire represents a full fledged fleet battle.

novius
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by novius »

New part of New Frontiers is up.

Sucks to be a Mizol. :mrgreen:

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Zarya
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Zarya »

Well done novius. I initially had doubts about the shaman approach 8-)

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dragoongfa
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by dragoongfa »

Monday will be a bad day for 'Beacons' fans...

Dorfington
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Re: Writing Prompts

Post by Dorfington »

Monday will be a bad day for 'Beacons' fans...
Is that when you abandon the story and focus primarily on Reforged? :D :D :D
SpoilerShow
Also when are we getting an image edit of page 139, with the highlander shuttle smashing into the station in the fourth panel and the torpedoes blowing the whole thing up in the fifth? :twisted:

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