#Like yeah get into the headspace of a civil war general

[noctilionoidea]

y’all why is apush having me take on the personality of a confederate general for a project. Like I know the reasons but I literally cannot

[attonposting]

Something I don't see many people invoke when writing Atton, and I wish more would, is the fact that his exiled Jedi crush is the General who pulled the trigger on the Mass Shadow Generator. That is a big deal! Him blowing up at the Exile over Malachor is nearly lost in the rapidfire shitstorm that's his whole confession, but Atton's on par with Mira for having personal beef over Malachor V. His headspace beneath the pazaak routine must have been a confused and angry mess once he learned that this ex-Jedi he was carting around was General Meetra Surik, or whichever name you gave your Exile.

Like, Atton was coming to grips with the fact that the Exile used to be a Jedi. They seem decent enough... clueless, and too much of a bleeding heart for their own good, they're the type of idiot who paints a target on their back every time they get out of bed, but at least they were a veteran instead of one of those worthless trust-in-the-Force types and they're not afraid to get their hands dirty when there's people that need to be shot. And hell, if the Jedi kicked them out, that's a point in their favor – maybe even enough for him to worry for them late at night after the juma's really kicked in, because sometimes they just seem so goddamn worn-down and look, he's not totally heartless. Anyone with eyes can see that they're lugging around some heavy shit; of course he's gonna wonder. And then he gets smacked with that.

Malachor V was huge to Atton. It's that theme of all of the crew's stories coming back to that single moment in time. Now, it's important to establish that Malachor is not a single event that broke Atton. He was already in bad straits by the end of the Mandalorian Wars, and heavily disillusioned by all he'd witnessed and done during them. It's not the end-all-be-all of his fall to the Dark Side and it may well have happened anyway. But Malachor was the capstone – a single terrible event that shattered the remainder of his faith. Atton was present during that battle (“You weren't there. You have no idea what happened.” -> “Oh yeah? Shows how much you know. Maybe you're wrong about a lot of other things, too.”) and alludes to trauma over it (“Wish I'd died there, that the storms had dragged me down into Malachor V”). My take is that he was among the forces arrayed for the space battle and barely managed to fly his way out of the gravity well, but you can interpret many different experiences from the loose constraints of canon.

No matter how you slice his involvement, though, Atton felt utterly betrayed by Malachor V. He'd already felt that the Republic was mismanaging its troops, that guys like him were being served up as cannon fodder while useless senators waffled over the measures they desperately needed on the ground and the Jedi sat on their Council thrones offering platitudes of protection while failing to lift a finger in anyone's defense. But here was the absolute worst of it – command straight-up lied to him, him and everyone else in that stars-damned clusterfuck, and sent them out as sacrificial lambs. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers laid out as bait for a goddamn trap. Didn't even get a chance to fucking fight, just a tongue-in-cheek “thank you for your sacrifice”, because if they'd signed up to fight then he guesses that meant they were already dead on paper anyway.

I think it's likely that the way Malachor ends up attributed to Revan was revisionism that happened later, in the same way that Revan accumulated blame for the actions of Malak in the Jedi Civil War. Revan definitely had a lot of blame for what happened at Malachor, but Atton would have hated whoever made that call. Whether he chalked it up to Meetra Surik or Insert Better Exile Name Here or just the Republic in general, he was a furious, bitter mess... and I don't think he would have been so quick to follow Revan if he'd known just how much of a hand they had in Malachor's planning.

Fast forward a decade later, when he meets the person behind that call, the Jedi behind that call, and they're nothing like he would have expected.

And he knows this because he's already seen them in action, gotten to know them a little – likes them, even, and isn't that a damned thing he tries to avoid. Unless your Exile is unusually chatty, Atton probably learns this sometime on Telos; possibly from Lt. Grenn when they get arrested (specifically the fact that the Republic wants to meet with them, that'll set off some alarm bells, and possibly bring in the Exile's full/real name), possibly when they meet Bao-Dur and his habit of using military ranks, possibly from the Handmaiden Sisters when they end up in Atris's Academy, and definitely from the holorecording of the Exile's trial if he hasn't already clued in. If he'd known who they were on Peragus, Atton might've used them to get off the station and planted a vibro in their back as soon as he didn't need them anymore, but now he's seen the kind of person they are – the parts that are just like him, the parts that are better than him – and he doesn't know how to feel.

I like to think that while Atton comes to terms with it, and probably a lot quicker than he was expecting... he doesn't forgive the Exile for Malachor. And it's the same as how forgiving Atton for his crimes is missing the point, and not what he wants anyway. It's more about moving on. The war is always going to be there, but it doesn't matter anymore, because they're not the same people who made those calls. What's important is that he understands. And in the end, not forgiving them might even be comfortable for Atton. He feels closer to them – both on a personal level and an aspirational one – in that they've both committed truly terrible crimes, things that cannot ever be made okay, and the Exile still managed to pick themselves up and keep trying. He's got mixed feelings about the charity act, but the fact that they were able to stop running and face the music for what they did is what captivates him, because that's something he never had the grit to do.

[penwarrior11]

All even numbers lol.

Thanks lmao. I'm doing this for DI mostly, but also general original stuff when applicable.

2. How long have you been working on your WIP?

Too damn long, lol. Uh, I started DI in late 2017, I think.

4. What came first, the title or the plot?

Plot. I always knew the second story would be "Disneyland: Civil War". Titles tend to be difficult for me in general.

6. Is your WIP part of a series or standalone?

Book 2 of a trilogy. Also book 2 of a probable 6 full length stories (because, clearly, I hate myself)

8. When creating the characters for your WIP, what came first to you?

Going to do a twofold answer for this since none of the THP characters are OCs

1. For THP stories, I usually have a general pitch idea and pick the MC based on who is in the best position to see the action.

2. I usually have a basic idea of the look and and a single main personality trait that I build the rest of their character off. Like anger, anxiety, etc.

10. Do you have an outline? Do you stick to it?

I always have a basic, bullet point outline for every story I work on (I gave an example from THP on the blog before). I always stick to the basic structure, at least, but I do give myself wiggle room for unexpected changes.

12. What part is the hardest to write in your WIP?

The first half of the second act... which is where I'm at right now. Oh my God, that's always the worst.

14. Tell us about an upcoming scene in your WIP, that you're excited about.

Better, happier Cindy is incoming next chapter in a new element, which the other girls are NOT prepared for lol. Also I am SO hyped about the Tower of Terror chapters down the line. I'm going to try my hardest to play into the horror of that particular situation.

16. Give a spoiler for your WIP.

Oswald is not the villain of DI (apparently this needs to be said?). He's actually a critical character on the "good" side coming up.

Oh yeah, and I cut a major character death from the story. So there's that.

18. Give a brief description of your main characters.

Okay, so y'all already know the trilogy's main 3 (Cindy, Merida, Mulan), so I'm going to cheat a little here:

Fourth book in this 'verse, nickname ICT, is going to have dual POVs. One of them is Meg.

20. What's a common writing tip that you almost always follow?

I always outline. Also, I tend to do this less for fanfic, but I abide by the idea that "your first draft will suck. Put the words down and fix them later"

22. How many projects do you usually have going at once?

Depends. Currently I'm juggling 5 different stories, not including the temporarily shelved TES projects

24. Do you have any abandoned WIPs? What made you abandon them?

I don't really "abandon" projects. I'll either shelve them temporarily to work on when I'm in a better headspace for it, or I'll recycle plot elements/characters/settings/etc for different projects

26. What is the worst writing advice in your opinion?

Anything can be, tbh. Writing is art, so absolutes... Don't really work? Everything is context based, essentially.

28. Are you planning on publishing your WIP? If so, how?

For DI and the rest of that series, obviously it's going up online. I would like to get my original work traditionally published when I'm done with it, though.

[andallhisausterenhost]

After Action Report: Aeldari Civil War

As you are all aware, last week @littlemangsofwar and I had an Eldar-on-Eldar game against each other.Unfortunately, I haven’t had the right kind of headspace to do a proper narrative report like I did the last time we played a game of 40k. It’s a real shame, as @littlemangsofwar has done a great job with his army list - every unit, every vehicle, every squad leader has a name. It’s actually really cool.

Zariah the Swift, Consort of Hesperax leads his Wyches, (alongside Lilith herself, of course), while Dalinah the Proud, Tairin Bloodsinger, and Olrai the Brutal lead bands of Kabalite falseborn atop the Raiders Silent Blade and Bringer of Sorrow.

In lieu of a proper after action report, I’ll share with you the photos I took during the game to show off @littlemangsofwar‘s moody green paint scheme (which looks fantastic). @idisimages came along about halfway, so some of hers are sprinkled in this post as well.

Next time I’ll keep track of the action a bit more carefully - maybe with some notes, or at least photographing turn dice or something, and I’ll put some actual effort in! Mangs* and I are hoping to have fortnightly wargames of some kind, so hopefully the after action report tag can get some real use on this here blog.

We each took a 1700 point list. Mine was pure Dark Eldar in three Patrols and an Auxiliary (understrength Incubi); a small band of the Coven-I-have-yet-to-name, every Cult unit I owned, and all my Kabalites. I even brought the unpainted Scourges and a squad of 3rd edition Mandrakes I intend to sell.

Mang’s band was a Battalion of mixed Dark Eldar, plus the Ynncarne in an Auxiliary Support Detachment. He therefore played his guys therefore as a Ghost Eldar army, but didn’t actually get to reap the benefits of it very much, which guiltily makes me feel like I was at an overwhelming advantage during the game.

Our mission was two-fold; Take and Hold and Kill the Courier. As Kill the Courier becomes a Sudden Death match (which is a bit boring), we decided that a courier-killer would get an extra 5VP. That meant it was enough to be seriously overwhelming in one direction or another, but not instantly end the game.

I think that next time, I’d like to play some Maelstrom game that requires constant drawing of Tactical Objectives. Some of them look really fun! Especially the insane Dark Eldar objectives like ‘hurt everyone in the other army in different ways’. Hilarious.

Deployment was the pointy ‘meet in the middle’ wedge. You can see the centre of the board (red marker, above), at the edge of an pre-Fall ruin. Most of the board was pre-Fall ruins, with the pathetic remnants of the buildings of some servitor race lying crumbling amidst the ruins.

The Ynnari and their cultist minions are seeking ancient Eldar artifacts, while the Kabal of the Sun Betrayed, ever eager to collect and preserve the past in their own brilliant, venomous way, are here to do the same. Conflict ensues.

I deployed the new Coven units on the pointy edge, with the swamp on my right forward swarming with Cult of Splintered Sight beasts. On my left flank was the rest of the Cult, as @littlemangsofwar had deployed his own Wych units there (including Lelith). I thought it was be fun to have the two gladiator gangs fight it out.

It was fun, but mostly for Mangs. I charged into the fray, firing as much darklight weaponry and as many plasma grenades as I could muster to bring down one of his Venoms, so that my Wyches could at least chew on some vulnerable flesh, but nothing worked.

Eventually, the cultists of the Wych Cult of Strife got out and, even without Cult special rules, started cutting through Wyches. My last few fled under the onslaught, only the Succubus surviving to fall back and await another opportunity.

Eventually (turn three or so), I did get revenge, as I was able to deep strike my Scourges exactly 9″ from the Succubus Zariah the Swift; she was burned alive by four heat lances. A truly murderous debut from my scourge mercenaries, who now deserve a coat paint! I’m just a bit anxious about their cool wings.

Here are @littlemangsofwar‘s Scourges from the back, so you can see the nice job he’s done.

In the centre of the board was where all the fun was. Mangs opened the game by incinerating my Clawed Fiend and summoning from his tortured corpse the Ynncarne! In colours of lavender and pale green, looking the very image of the last hopes of a tormented civilisation in decline.

His squad of jetbikes then charged the one of mine positioned nearby and, despite losing one lad on the way in, did proceed to cut into them pretty neatly. In the swamp itself, my beasts hurled themselves into the Ynncarne who... yeah, he just sliced them to bits. It did hold him up for a turn! That was nice!

Mangs also blasted the hell out of my newly painted Haemonculus and his little friends - which, to be fair, I did have them sitting on an objective for a reason. They absorbed a tremendous amount of fire, which was pretty cool. That was all they did, until I used that stratagem in the late game which allows you to bring them back, at which point they marched back to the objective and held it again. Very fun, if not very nice of me.

On my right flank, Mang’s two falseborn squads hunkered down in cover while my trueborn flew around in their venoms. I made little pew pew noises, and had a grand old time... and then my Blasterborn squad evaporated the Ynncarne.

I feel bad about that.

My Archon and his Incubi bodyguard, despite losing a couple mates to heavy fire, took care of the Ynncarne’s Reaver pals. I then advanced him to join with the Haemonculus and fight Varathi the Silencer and Varathi’s Blades. Unfortunately, those Eldar on the Path of the Warrior (however debased) fell before these two aeons-old monsters.

I want to acknowledge at this point that Mangs had some pretty rotten luck and I, uncharacteristically, was rolling pretty well. The Voidraven Bomber, despite its terrifying nature in the fluff, did something somewhere between fuck- and piss-all. I lost a few wounds off the Raider you see there on this fly-by, but not enough to take it out.

It was about this point where we were willing to call it. @littlemangsofwar‘s ghosts were all but spent. He still had a bit of a lead in terms of points, thanks to taking two objectives early while I was faffing about shooting him from gunboats. We agreed it wasn’t enough, as I was beginning to secure the objectives myself and had vaporised his courier (the Succubus).

However! I did do something for a bit of a lark which would be a terrible idea in a serious game: I decided to fight Lelith Hesperax with Me’draus the Eclipse, Archon of the Kabal of the Sun Betrayed, the Sunkiller, the Vral’wern’a, &c &c. I mean, I also had the Succubus** join in. I’m not an idiot.

So even though @littlemangsofwar had generously called the game for me, we decided to see how the brutal melee would go.

I did not go well. Me’draus had his shadowfield fail in the very first roll of the dice, of course, and so Lelith butchered him in a single round of combat. While the Splintered Sight Succubus did manage to inflict a flesh wound on the succeeding round, Lelth quickly put her down as well.

The Haemonculi would charge Me’draus a premium for such a foolish, arrogant waste of his cloned flesh!

Result: VICTORY

See below the cut for a brief summary of our respective lists.

Kabal of the Sun Betrayed: Alliance of Agony

The Kabal of the Sun Betrayed uses the Kabal of the Flayed Skull attribute. Why not the Kabal of the Black Heart? Because Vect is really bad writing and I hate him, that’s why. Anyway. List:

Archon (agoniser; soulthirst)

2 x 10 Warriors (splinter cannon; sybarites have pistols)

2 x Raiders (splinter racks, trophies)

2 x Trueborn (one with shredders, one with blasters; shredder dracon has phantasm grenades)

2x Venoms (trophies; shredder carrier has snares)

Scourges (4 x heat lances)

Incubi (x4)

These had to go in a fourth detachment (Auxiliary) because they’re below strength. Why? So that they can actually be the Archon’s bodyguard! When I finally paint a car for them, it’ll be worth it.

Means I probably can’t play in tournaments with this kind of list, which is dumb (surely paying 1 CP suffices? eh) but I’m not sure I want to play in tournaments anyway.

The Cult of Splintered Sight uses Cult of the Cursed Blade, mostly because of the +1 strength. The only time the Morale bit came up, the only remaining model was the Hekatrix anyway!

Succubus (glaive, hypex, parasite’s kiss, treacherous deceiver)

totally forgot about treacherous deceiver!

hypex because she doesn’t have a car yet

10 x wyches (one of each wych weapon; adrenalight; agoniser)

Raider (trophies, chain snares [not that I used them])

Beastmaster

4 x Khymerae

Clawed Fiend

2 x Razorwing Flocks

2 x 3 Reavers (1 heat lance each, cluster caltrops)

I modelled them with caltrops, but actually think the other one would come up more often.

The Unnamed Coven used the Prophets of Flesh for this game, but I don’t know if I’ll keep using that. It is definitely useful, but I dislike things associated with the Kabal of the Black Heart (which Urien Rakarth is), and I like the madness/Morale rules associated with the Dark Creed. See how we get on.

Haemonculus (Liquifier Gun, Scissorhand, Ichor Injector)

He was a Diabolical Soothsayer which I totally forgot about.

He’s armed as the model is, but eventually I’ll convert a more modern model for him and this model will be demoted to Wrack.

6 x Wracks.

6 x Mandrakes

These did exactly nothing after I deployed them which, eh. I really like the new (well, 2010 is new to me) models, though...

Lelith’s Band: Cultists of Death

Lelith Hesperax

Zariah the Swift (Succubus)

blast pistol

3 x 10 Warriors (blaster, dark lance, blast pistol, power sword)

These guys are seriously well-equipped, but unfortunately not well equipped against other light infantry.

Lelith’s Concubines, 10 x Hekatrix Bloodbrides

Led by Elaria the Savage, Syren

Varathi’s Blades (5 x Incubi)

Varathi the Silencer

Jaik’s Band (6 x Reavers)

The Purple Rain (5 x Scourges)

Led by Naimari the Silent with a blast pistol.

1 x Haywire Blaster

They’re actually equipped with soup, but @littlemangsofwar had to shave some points for an even match-up.

Kondro’s Bane, Voidraven

Very disappointed in this unit’s effectiveness. Shatterfield missiles do a lousy 1 damage? D6 shots, 3+ to hit, 3+ to wound means you’re only going to do, like, two damage with the thing per turn. Void lances are better, sure, but you still only get two shots.

Bringer of Sorrow, Silent Blade

Raiders

Sharpstrike, Swiftkill

Venoms

The Ynncarne (1 x Greater Daemon of Ynnead)

Absolute monster, but I think I managed to get lucky on my first time facing him and do exactly what you should do against him: pin him down with chaff and then blast him with, uh, blasters.

Anyway, it was a great game, and @littlemangsofwar continues to be an absolute gentleman to play wargames against. He said he had fun, and that we might even start doing this regularly! (I think I said that above? That was like an hour of typing ago...) That would be great, right?

Our next game may be an intro game of Full Thrust because: spaceships. Otherwise, maybe some Kill Team, or potentially another game of 8th edition 40K. I haven’t actually had the time to get any painting done this week, but I wouldn’t mind trying out the new scouts. Or maybe the Kabal of the Sun Betrayed could make some slaves of his Imperial Guardsmen...

We’ll have to have a bit of a chat about it!

*Writing out his full tag each time is like calling someone by their full name in casual conversation. It’s bloody annoying.

**I really, really need to give her a name!

[academicgangster]

1, 2, 3, 4, 12

[FanficAsks!]

1. If you’re an author, how many WIPs do you currently have? (Be honest!)

Shit, I’m gonna have to count again.Okay I just did (might be missing a couple, though) and there are NINETEEN. N I N E T E E N just the one major one right now, thoughBUT N  I  N  E  T  E  E  Nhelp

2. What’s next on your ‘to-read’ list? (Fan fiction or otherwise)

Fanfic-wise, I have a bunch of Star Wars recs from @ishipallthings to get to, and a truly lovely MIB fic I’m told was a gift for @wintersknight, that I’ve been saving for a rainy day / a time when I can slip back into MIB headspace without losing Fugitive headspace. Book-wise, my fascination with medical stuff has kicked into high gear of late, so I’m reading The Matter of the Heart by Thomas Morris and Migraine by Oliver Sacks.

3. Do you prefer canonverse or AUs?

I strongly prefer canonverse. That said, I do have a soft spot for point-divergent AUs (as in ‘what if this happened instead of this’ - very much including genderswap), as opposed to AUs set in whole different settings like colleges and coffee shops. I also sometimes enjoy fandom fusions (as in ‘characters from X fandom in the universe of Y fandom’), but I’m very picky about those.

4. What fandom’s/ship’s fan fiction do you read the most?

VARIES WILDLY. I’m not reading much fanfic these days, because my reading tapers off when I’m working on hardcore writing projects of my own. I used to read a lot of MCU fic, but that’s dropped to almost zero since Civil War. These days when I go on fanfic searches, I look for hurt/comforty Star Wars stuff featuring Han. I…do not often find much. This is sad.If I find a film that fascinates me while making progress on my watchlist, I’ll probably look for fanfic of it too. (see also: Sam/Richard, Roy/Reggie, MIB in general, I can’t believe there’s no Witness or Blue Sky fanfic…yeah. #obscure)

12. Friends with benefits or secret dating? 

oh no oh no. Neither is usually quite my speed. I prefer characters who are in love to be quietly but shamelessly in love. That said, I’d maybe be okay with friends with benefits. Maybe.

[Getto Know Your Author]

1) is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?

apart from ‘everything else is on hold so I can work on the Sam/Richard fic’? Hm. Well…yeah, kind of. There’s that one utterly self-indulgent Sam-centric h/c fic set like eight years before the film, that may never see the light of day because it’s basically just Me Working Out My Issues. (Goddamnit.)

2) what work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?

Self-Indulgent Weirdness v1.0 about, I think, Jim Kirk reading Anne’s House of Dreams by LM Montgomery? Why did I do that. (I’m not embarrassed about it exactly; I’m not going to take it down, but, uh, damn, younger me. Damn.)

3) what order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological?favourite scenes first? something else?

I WRITE WHATEVER COMES INTO MY HEAD AND THEN MAKE AN OUTLINE AND THEN FILL IN THE GAPS ANDit’s disorganized, but it works (eventually)

4) favourite character you’ve written

See, I would say Sam, but that’s quite possibly recency bias at its finest. I do love his POV, though there’s less of it than Richard’s so far. I’m also really enjoying Kay’s POV (again, bits and pieces of unpublished work). The most different POV I’ve attempted so far is Nina from Black Moon Rising. HI I’M CAIN AND I’M BAD AT PICKING FAVOURITES

12) your weaknesses as an author

Dealing with timeskips and segue words. Sometimes every damn sentence I write sounds like a conclusion and I’m a mess. Other times things flow like they should. I am a perfectionist maniac, which is possibly definitely why I am so goddamn slow.