Q & A : Philosophy

I'm rather enjoying these Q & A posts. It's rather nice to be participating in a discussion of sorts.

Anyways, it's a little early perhaps, but here is another one. This time the theme is philosophy. It can be game philosophy, design philosophy, personal philosophy, the sky is the limit, so long as it relates to philosophy.

And another one goes down

Well, my sub for WAR is officially canceled and the game itself is off my hdd.

Still, it didn't make my list of "I wish I'd never bought that in the first place". The Witcher and Neverwinter Nights 2 are the sole heirs to that particular throne.

The Moon

I was just thinking... no matter how long you raise your hand to touch the moon, you never could. Even if you were to stand on the moon, you'd have to reach down to touch it.

Q & A 3: Game Design

Welp, lets get the ball rolling on another stirring round of question and answer. I suppose the theme this time can be game design.

Remember no kittens or other small animals were harmed in the creation of these answers. ~.^

Painful Relations

It was the tang of cold steel that hung in the air. For a Human or an Angreal the blood would have tainted the air with the taste of iron and brass, but never hers. Isobel could only survey the devastated state room and the blood spattered across the walls and pooled on the ground. The milky blue substance was still draining from the furrows running up Tsenara's arms forming a frozen puddle at her feet.

"I'm sorry," Isobel said.

"It didn't work," Tsenara said.

"I'm sorry," Isobel repeated.

Isobel walked slowly across the room, simply walking through any puddles that got in her way. For a second she considered hugging her consort, but finally she just raised a hand to lay on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me." She just let the hand fall to her side.

I'm sorry," Isobel repeated the mantra.

"Is that all you can say?" Tsenara finally looked up at her.

She couldn't speak, she didn't have a reply.

"Why? I never wanted anyone but you! I never even looked at anyone but you! Why can't you see me!? Why can't you be with me, and hold onto me!? Why couldn't you bring back my baby!? You promised me! YOU PROMISED!"

Isobel weathered the storm of screams and tears. She could only watch her consorts rage. There were no defenses that came to mind, nothing to excuse her, only more recriminations of her own part in the pain.

"I'll send them home."

"And there will be others! You think I don't see you watching them! Such an empty promise-"

Isobel removed the knife from her belt sheath in a single clean motion, and made the cut with the other. The pain was terrible and she couldn't help but fall to her knees screaming. In an instant the world went red and then black, her ears overloading with sounds of other screams from the hallway. Tsenara's hand rested on her eyelids, cold as ice, but comforting, numbing, taking away the pain.

"Fr-from now on, I have no eyes for any other. You will be my last sight in this world. I shall not stray from your side, or wander without you ever again." After a short pause she finally added, "I'm so sorry."

In her world of blackness Tsenara enveloped her, the freezing tendrils of blood still flowing half-heartedly from her arms.

Slowly the servants came to their senses, the Empresses were guided back to the royal quarters and an army of staff set about cleaning the ruined room. The room was set to rights by morning, with no sign of there ever having been a problem. Those involved, though, were changed forever.

---------

Just wanted to further explore the relationship between Isobel and Tsenara. I always feel like there is so much left unsaid every time I visit this pair. Even know there is so much more to say that I doubt I could make fit quite right.

Lies in advertisement.

I just saw a WotLK advertisement that said, and I quote, "You're definition of epic will be shattered."

My definition of epic is a clash of armies spanning an entire continent, while fighting in the shadow of hundreds of colossal war machines twelve stories tall. Playing out a feud older than human history while their leaders fight in a valley scorched bare by warfare. Decimating the ground beneath them with the weight of their blows and reshaping the landscape with every missed attack. It's the watchful eyes of an immortal being as she decides whether to lock the world into an ice age ending the conflict once and for all, or to spare the last vestige of her long dead line. It's the destruction of entire cities in the blink of an eye and the construction of cosmopolitan cities in a decade.

Compared to someone raising yet another army of undead so that a veritable army of computer geeks can take turns striking him down, after killing some more boars of course... Well, I guess I'll just have to wait and see what comes down the blogging grapevine.

Succubi

What was it I wonder, about the stars that night. They were distracting, alluring, and more radiant than they had ever been. It was the kind of night that was built for making memories, and experiencing happy times. The kind of night where lovers embraced and the world would seem just a little less terrible. It was such a shame, to die under such beautiful stars.
I don't think about my death that often anymore. I suppose at some point I just got used to it. Sometimes, though, it haunts me with implacable fury and I can remember all the terrifying little details. Figures barely seen in the dark, a fear that grabbed my stomach with unyielding force and paralyzed my legs transforming them into granite, and even the sucking pop of the wound actually opening.
Of course, I'd rather go through that a thousand times than stay here in hell. I always imagined hell would be a place of boiling furnaces and scary monsters torturing me constantly. What a waste of imagination, hell is living in the same world dyed white and desaturated without another soul to be seen despite an eternity of walking. Hell is this fucking highway I've been walking down for three days now.
Ahead there isn't much, just some shacks and more endless tracts of desert. Once I would have bothered to search the shacks for people. I just keep on walking, following the road to some unknown destination. No glimmer of hope dared to enter my heart these days, they were all too afraid to get crushed.
I'm not sure how I could have missed her in the time between seconds. The woman in the red dress standing barefoot in the middle of the road ahead. Her pale complexion blending her skin with the surroundings, but the red almost painful to my desensitized eyes. Who was she could have crossed my mind, but instead the word 'beautiful' just kept replaying like a broken vinyl.
Before I could regain thought she was inches away, and in those inches I could feel something more. It was as if it wasn't space, but liquid tension that occupied the space between us. Her hand grazed my leg and the tension broke in an instant, forcing my hand as I grasped at her and wept. I was ashamed, so ashamed, but so relieved to finally touch a living being again.
She cooed to me, kind words in a kind tone. The past melted away, burned off by the brilliance of the woman in the red dress, freeing my mind to see the world anew. My mind was always two steps ahead of my heart, my mind had already identified this woman, this kind and beautiful stranger in the red dress. But my heart persevered, with the help of my arms it just kept embracing the succubus in the red dress.
When finally she pulled away, she took my hand with her. We began to walk as she leaned on me, the two of us pressing forward earnestly. Finally I understood the truest cruelty of hell. This succubus would surely eat my soul, but in truth, I'll be giving it to her bit by bit just to keep her by my side.

Out There

Out There
By: Sara Pickell (2008)

Out there.
Out there.
Out there.
Waiting for me out there.
Waiting for me.
Waiting.

I can't just say this outright,
'Cause I don't really know what I want to say.
I'm so sure you're out there,
And I'm waiting for you every day.
Even though I've never met you!
Even though you've never seen me!
I'm always looking at you,
And your shadow on the ceiling!

You're out there,
Somewhere I can't reach,
In the starry sky or somewhere underneath!
In all my days of life,
I can't say I've ever lived,
Because even though I needed you,
Close to you is where I've never been!

I can almost hear it in the wind,
Screaming out the words I've never said.
If only I could see you,
And know where you have been.
We could spend our nights unsleeping,
Sharing words or something more!
Be always looking at you,
Not a shadow of you anymore!

You're out there,
Somewhere I can't reach,
In the starry sky or somewhere underneath!
In all my days of life,
I can't say I've ever lived,
Because even though I needed you,
Close to you is where I've never been!

Just in time to see you missing,
A little late for your lifelong show again!
One step closer I thought maybe,
But losing chances to say when!
Even now I've never met you!
Still now you've never seen me!
Can't keep looking at you,
Only your shadow on the ceiling!

I know you're out there!
I know you're,
Out there!
Just keep on waiting!
Just keep on,
Waiting!

Please.

Feel Fine

Feel Fine
By: Sara Pickell (2008)

Can you feel it now,
Coming in the wind and in the autumn sounds,
Calling for your surrender,
Calling out for every ounce of being.

Can you hear it now,
Your heart beating so fast that you can barely breathe,
All I can do is surrender,
Giving up the things that I believed.

And there we go!
Off on some adventure,
Losing ourselves in this dangerous night!
Wondering when!
When did I believe her,
And lose this cripling burden of self doubt!

Can you scream it now,
Scream all your fear of how you're never good 'nough,
Crying about surrender,
Wondering what it is they really see.

And there we go!
Off on some adventure,
Losing ourselves in this fucked up night!
Wondering when!
When did I believe her,
And drop this awful burden of my old self!

And there we go!
Forgetting misadventure,
Losing ourselves for just one fucking night!
Wondering when!
When did I consider,
And why so long to feel so god damn fine!

Feel fine!
Feel fine!
I feel fine!
With you!

The Intro

There are many paths through life. What is to one man an inconceivable burden, is to another a way of life. Each must choose their path, and it is through obedience to their chosen path that they may find fulfillment. As the ancient sages have said, it is not ours to tell others how they may find happiness, only to tell them that they can.
- Renmi the Enlightened.

It is a time of wonders and magic, the very first arbelesque has been produced by the genius inventor De Sanse. Great magicians roam the land, some serve the kingdom or a feudal lord, while others simply wander for the sake of it, a few though have turned their great power to the purpose of burning down the world around them. They often have no heart for the results of their magics, no feeling for those left destroyed.

You have been called to take up the reigns of the life of a young woman in this world. I know not by the power of what divine, or otherwise, being you were given this task. I can only ask you serve her well. She was born as human as I, in every way normal and healthy. However in a duel between roaming magicians her fate was cruelly scarred. Her family was murdered, and her right half transfigured with parts of an avian. The one winged girl, hated by her society and cast out onto the streets, has great potential, potential that has been entrusted to you.

Life has thus far been difficult on her, as I've said, but today is a chance for that to change. Guide her well.

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I was thinking about this a lot after I got it all written down and did a couple revisions. A good intro is the key to a good piece. You have to grab the reader from the word go, and, like a thesis statement, it needs to be strong enough to propel the story.

I don't quite think I'm there. Anyone have any suggestions?

It's November which means...

That's right everybody it's NaNoWriMo! Of course, I won't be writing a novel so I'm not so sure why it excites me this much, but any excuse to write prodigious amounts of content is a good excuse. I'm going to be channeling that into an interactive fiction game for a bit. Also I'm planning on hanging out at the library as much as possible for the next little bit.

I just want to tack this on.
Dear internet people,
if you are going to call someone retarded, stupid, or ignorant, make sure everything in your post, including the word retarded, is spelled correctly and uses proper grammar. I'm not generally that bad of a spelling/grammar nazi, but for god's sake if you're going act smart... act smart.

Q & A 2: Writing

I feel like running another Q & A post. This time around, I'd like to direct it a little more, with a theme on writing. I'm still not terribly concerned with how it ties into writing, writing in games, my writing, whatever it's all the same to me. Just so long as it fits within the theme of writing.