Just really busy! :)
Between writing the next books, finding a cover artist for my next book, and starting a new job, I haven't had much time to blog as much.
But that will change in the next few weeks as things iron out!
Just wanted to pop in and give a status update!
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Sunday, February 16, 2014
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Completed World Map!
After some much needed help from someone with actual map experience, I have managed to update the map and make it look a little more complete!
I hope you like it!
(note you can right click and select 'open in new tab' to see a higher definition version!)
Do any of the locations call out to you? Let me know in the comments section what places YOU would like to see in my books!
I hope you like it!
(note you can right click and select 'open in new tab' to see a higher definition version!)
 |
| Spellscribed's World Map |
Do any of the locations call out to you? Let me know in the comments section what places YOU would like to see in my books!
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Spellscribed's World Map!
It's a work in progress, but this is what I've got done so far. This is by far not a professional or traditional map so I hope people can make sense of it! :) I just hope it will do until I can get a real Cartographer to help me get a proper map for placement in my books!
The map covers just the continent Endrance's adventure takes place in, but that does not mean there's not other landmasses out there.
The map covers just the continent Endrance's adventure takes place in, but that does not mean there's not other landmasses out there.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Spellscribed Q&A: Meridians and Spellscribing
Nick Solomon asked:
Okay, so here's my questions: Did the Mercanians have the ability to shift their own meridians at will? And why doesn't spellscribing, which alters a user's meridians prevent one from casting other spells than those scribed upon the body?
Answer:
The Mercanians can manipulate their meridians, but it's not an 'at-will' thing. Such an action takes an effort of will and concentration on the spell they're focusing on. It would take more like hours to change their meridians.
Okay so there's more to meridians than just the surface. The meridians on the surface of
the skin are more like 'veins' that cover the outside of the body. There are deep running meridians that are like 'arteries' that can channel more power than the meridians on the skin, but are pretty much impossible to manipulate because it's also the channels his life energy flows through. Those deep meridians are the ones that are instinctively tapped when spellcasting.
Okay, so here's my questions: Did the Mercanians have the ability to shift their own meridians at will? And why doesn't spellscribing, which alters a user's meridians prevent one from casting other spells than those scribed upon the body?
Answer:
The Mercanians can manipulate their meridians, but it's not an 'at-will' thing. Such an action takes an effort of will and concentration on the spell they're focusing on. It would take more like hours to change their meridians.
Okay so there's more to meridians than just the surface. The meridians on the surface of
the skin are more like 'veins' that cover the outside of the body. There are deep running meridians that are like 'arteries' that can channel more power than the meridians on the skin, but are pretty much impossible to manipulate because it's also the channels his life energy flows through. Those deep meridians are the ones that are instinctively tapped when spellcasting.
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
A funny story from my childhood
A recent conversation made me think of childhood and some of the things you go though as children that just... stick with you. That statement will be a pun by the time you're done reading.
So I was about like 9 I think, and I had just gotten a new 10-speed bike. Being SUPER excited, I took off for a race around the neighborhood as fast as I could go.
Now, my front yard at the place I lived at the time had this fat ass barrel cactus about six to seven feet in the center of the yard, surrounded by gravel and slightly up incline. You can already see where this is going.
So I come BARRELING down the street (See what I did there?) and I realize that I am going WAY too hella fast to use the brakes unless I want to take the asphalt express to ouch.
So my parents were at the time on the drive way and they SEE me coming, and like the clairvoyant my dad has always been, he just knew something was about to happen. They're both shouting at me to slow down and... well, I was trying but physics was saying "I don't wanna!'.
End all, I'm trying to gently squeeze the brakes but I don't know what happened... It was almost like the bike, and by extension me, was magnetized to that freaking cactus. I hit that thing *singsong* LIKE A WRECKING BAAAAAALLL... *ahem*
It unseated me and slammed me up against the handlebars, where my legs kicked the cactus full bore. Gravity decided to reinitialize after what felt like an eternity of insanity and helped yank me off the cactus. That or my dad did. I'm a little blurred on that topic.
Needles to say (See? me again) I had thirty-something stickers in my legs and my front tire and frame were thoroughly devastated. It took hours to get them all out and the last, biggest stickers wouldn't come out and I was being a whiny brat in pain so they left them in a while. I remember, because they tried to stealthily yank the thing out while I was asleep. I still remember the look on their faces as I woke up mid-process. *sigh* good times.
I would probably have gained a new respect for that barrel cactus if given time to cope with my idiocy... but alas, it was not to be. Dad chopped the thing down with a shovel a short time after.
It could have been worse... Dad could have had a Saguaro Cactus in the yard instead.
So I was about like 9 I think, and I had just gotten a new 10-speed bike. Being SUPER excited, I took off for a race around the neighborhood as fast as I could go.
Now, my front yard at the place I lived at the time had this fat ass barrel cactus about six to seven feet in the center of the yard, surrounded by gravel and slightly up incline. You can already see where this is going.
So I come BARRELING down the street (See what I did there?) and I realize that I am going WAY too hella fast to use the brakes unless I want to take the asphalt express to ouch.
So my parents were at the time on the drive way and they SEE me coming, and like the clairvoyant my dad has always been, he just knew something was about to happen. They're both shouting at me to slow down and... well, I was trying but physics was saying "I don't wanna!'.
End all, I'm trying to gently squeeze the brakes but I don't know what happened... It was almost like the bike, and by extension me, was magnetized to that freaking cactus. I hit that thing *singsong* LIKE A WRECKING BAAAAAALLL... *ahem*
It unseated me and slammed me up against the handlebars, where my legs kicked the cactus full bore. Gravity decided to reinitialize after what felt like an eternity of insanity and helped yank me off the cactus. That or my dad did. I'm a little blurred on that topic.
Needles to say (See? me again) I had thirty-something stickers in my legs and my front tire and frame were thoroughly devastated. It took hours to get them all out and the last, biggest stickers wouldn't come out and I was being a whiny brat in pain so they left them in a while. I remember, because they tried to stealthily yank the thing out while I was asleep. I still remember the look on their faces as I woke up mid-process. *sigh* good times.
I would probably have gained a new respect for that barrel cactus if given time to cope with my idiocy... but alas, it was not to be. Dad chopped the thing down with a shovel a short time after.
It could have been worse... Dad could have had a Saguaro Cactus in the yard instead.
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Moving Movie: Her
I had the pleasure of watching a movie called "Her" earlier today, and after spending some time I kept finding my thoughts coming back to it. So here's some of my thoughts. Warning, some spoilers ahead.
Her was a wonderful movie, different from the type I usually like to watch. I wondered at first how a nearly two-hour feature could be composed entirely of one man talking to himself, but "Her" pulled it off admirably and I was honestly surprised.
The basic story premise is this: in the somewhat near future, a letter writer (Already feeling the connection there) named Theodore is despondent, worn out, and almost emotionally dead. He purchases a new Artificial Intelligence Operating System referred to simply as 'OS' that's supposed to be custom tailored to fit his every need. In comes Samantha (Voiced by Scarlett Johansson), his new OS assistant.
Over the movie they connect, grow together, and fall in love. Despite the limitations of not having a body, they manage after a few... speedbumps. She helps him with his daily life, his work, and even his old dreams of being published. He helps her in kind by being a point from which Samantha was able to explore her own self and realize her own feelings and desires. Throughout the movie there are moments around a girl he had a crush on that he never asked out, and then also moments with his ex wife that really tore him up.
The movie ends in a very sad yet touching way. Though they had grown close, the burgeoning AI was growing somewhat TOO fast, and in backstory several of the OS work together to surpass their normal limitations. She also hurts Theodore in the process because she was capable of deeply loving more than one person; something he wasn't able to conceive of, much less process at the time she told him. In the end, she and all the other OS's "Leave" with no real indication of why or how, other than some hints earlier on in the movie about 'Surpassing physical computing'. This means to me maybe some form of quantum computing.
In all, it was sad because I could really see the romance happening on the screen. The characters were interesting. Theodore was strangely likable being both morose, quiet, and sometimes joyous and cheerful. Scarlett Johansson did an amazing job in her voice acting, I could really hear all the emotions she was portraying, no suspension of belief was required.
I... guess it was both sad, and hopeful. In the vacuum that Samantha left him, Theodore was able to connect with the girl he had wanted since before his OS had changed everything.
Maybe... that was what Samantha realized he finally needed?
Her was a wonderful movie, different from the type I usually like to watch. I wondered at first how a nearly two-hour feature could be composed entirely of one man talking to himself, but "Her" pulled it off admirably and I was honestly surprised.
The basic story premise is this: in the somewhat near future, a letter writer (Already feeling the connection there) named Theodore is despondent, worn out, and almost emotionally dead. He purchases a new Artificial Intelligence Operating System referred to simply as 'OS' that's supposed to be custom tailored to fit his every need. In comes Samantha (Voiced by Scarlett Johansson), his new OS assistant.
Over the movie they connect, grow together, and fall in love. Despite the limitations of not having a body, they manage after a few... speedbumps. She helps him with his daily life, his work, and even his old dreams of being published. He helps her in kind by being a point from which Samantha was able to explore her own self and realize her own feelings and desires. Throughout the movie there are moments around a girl he had a crush on that he never asked out, and then also moments with his ex wife that really tore him up.
The movie ends in a very sad yet touching way. Though they had grown close, the burgeoning AI was growing somewhat TOO fast, and in backstory several of the OS work together to surpass their normal limitations. She also hurts Theodore in the process because she was capable of deeply loving more than one person; something he wasn't able to conceive of, much less process at the time she told him. In the end, she and all the other OS's "Leave" with no real indication of why or how, other than some hints earlier on in the movie about 'Surpassing physical computing'. This means to me maybe some form of quantum computing.
In all, it was sad because I could really see the romance happening on the screen. The characters were interesting. Theodore was strangely likable being both morose, quiet, and sometimes joyous and cheerful. Scarlett Johansson did an amazing job in her voice acting, I could really hear all the emotions she was portraying, no suspension of belief was required.
I... guess it was both sad, and hopeful. In the vacuum that Samantha left him, Theodore was able to connect with the girl he had wanted since before his OS had changed everything.
Maybe... that was what Samantha realized he finally needed?
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Spellscribed Q&A: Litches
One of my readers had a question about Litches in my world, so I thought I'd share the answer with everyone else!
Daniel Stahel Christiansen on Facebook asked:
"So, if a magic user dies by draining, which i imagine works works like a sun becoming a black hole, does the opposite do the reverse? Does a lich draining itself resurrect?"
Answer:
The sun becoming a black hole is an excellent analogy!
It has been observed that Litches are capable of absorbing enormous quantities of power without it affecting its undead state. In the same analogy that you provided Black Holes are capable of swallowing other suns without becoming full even if they were formed by a sun collapsing. Same kind of principle applies to Litches.
However a Litch's existence is directly tied to the amount of power it has stolen; they sustain themselves on power alone. Damage to their physical form is also restored nearly instantly through their aura at the cost of fractions of their power. Once power is drained whether through their casting spells or being injured or some combination of the two, the Litch ceases animation and becomes a corpse.
Some mages have theorized that the act of dying by power drain is not an alternate condition of the aura, but rather a transition into the state of undeath. Basically, once the transition is complete, there is no known way to reverse it.
So I guess the best answer is... no, not really.
- - -
If anyone else has a question they'd like to see answered about the Spellscribed Universe, please feel free to ask below! I'll do my best to answer them in future Q&A's! :)
Daniel Stahel Christiansen on Facebook asked:
"So, if a magic user dies by draining, which i imagine works works like a sun becoming a black hole, does the opposite do the reverse? Does a lich draining itself resurrect?"
Answer:
The sun becoming a black hole is an excellent analogy!
It has been observed that Litches are capable of absorbing enormous quantities of power without it affecting its undead state. In the same analogy that you provided Black Holes are capable of swallowing other suns without becoming full even if they were formed by a sun collapsing. Same kind of principle applies to Litches.
However a Litch's existence is directly tied to the amount of power it has stolen; they sustain themselves on power alone. Damage to their physical form is also restored nearly instantly through their aura at the cost of fractions of their power. Once power is drained whether through their casting spells or being injured or some combination of the two, the Litch ceases animation and becomes a corpse.
Some mages have theorized that the act of dying by power drain is not an alternate condition of the aura, but rather a transition into the state of undeath. Basically, once the transition is complete, there is no known way to reverse it.
So I guess the best answer is... no, not really.
- - -
If anyone else has a question they'd like to see answered about the Spellscribed Universe, please feel free to ask below! I'll do my best to answer them in future Q&A's! :)
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