#strelles updates

[strelles-universe]

Hybrid Bases - The Greenwood Prides

Being surrounded by other AUs with hybrid/magical cats eventually made an impression on me when I decided I wanted the Shores to have shark-tails. I wondered about it for a bit before remembering that I am the writer and I am allowed to do whatever I want with my story. So I am slowly hybridizing the sapient creatures of Strelles because I refuse to allow only the prides to be cool looking.

All of these bases were drawn by @sparkwing

---

Winds - Bat/Okapi

Long and slender forms with massive bat ears atop their heads. Leaf noses paired with sharp long, top tooth fangs and angular eyes. The Winds have flaps of skin between their tail and hindlegs alongside their forelegs and flanks. They have strong horns atop their heads which are useful both for digging and to defend themselves from the various hawks and eagles that roam their open-territory. Runners/Escorts - along thin, whiplike tails mostly used for directional changes and signals Tunnelers/Guards - short or completely stubby tails to keep them out of the way and aid in dirt clearing. Larger horns for combat and digging

Shores - Shark/Rosetail-Betta

Not completely water-perfect but they are streamline d I think. Cats of the Shores have medium-length, somewhat coarse glossy fur not unlike that of an otter's that fades into a shark-like tail. I imagined them are more like the tails of blacktip reef-sharks rather than that of a great white's. They have long catfish like whiskers that look silly drooping on land but are crucial for navigating when their rivers are murky. The fins around their necks are more decorative than functional, their only purpose really only meant to look pretty. The Sacred Rank of the Shores - The Frills - are based more on lionfish with venomous spines lining their backs down to their rumps and on their forelegs which have fins webbed between them as well. Their fins have been pulled a bit back, connecting at the sides of their necks and going down their backs.

Shadows - Alligator/Snake

Long and somewhat lean forms with short fur and round heads. They don't really have ears so much as ear-flaps that resemble the ridges on a gator's head. Creeping Shadows have a few scales on their noses with ridges running down their spines into a powerful gator's tail useful for combat and balance. The Anacondas are much more snake-like taking on the hoods of a snake (capable of being closed of course) and a combination of a snake and gator's tail with spines down the tail but with a rattle on the end. Bonus! Spark colored one of the Shadow cats

Thunders - Boar/Owl

Muscular and solid forms with thick, protective fur meant to defend them from the thorns and brackens strewn throughout their thick forest territory. The Thunders have large tusks paired with an under-bite. They have a thick collar of feathers around their necks remiscent of a lion's mane - with some being larger and more plush than other’s at times. The Strix of the forest is granted feathered legs and lose their cat's stails altogether. One of their defining traits is the large, sharp talon on their forepaws.

(Will finish the image descriptions when I have more energy)

[wc-adventure-game-35e]

Credits and References

The following blogs and links are what I am using to reference my supplement!

D&D's 3.5e System Reference Document

The Original WC Adventure Game

My Old WCAG Rework (v1)

My Other Old WCAG Rework (v2, It's listed as 1e, but that was an update when I planned starting this a very very long time ago)

@unofficial-warriors-dnd

@morningstar-warriors

@bonefall

@ailurocide

@strelles-universe

@healing-fire--rewrite

Note: If any of the blogs I mentioned here are not comfortable with me using their base ideas, please let me know! I genuinely tried checking each blog, but tumblr is kinda bad with it's search features so I do not know 100%

[redux-iterum]

I'm telling you now that when I commented on your rewrite originally, I did not expect any of this... And by God you never fail to impress me more with each update you do, it's honestly astounding how you've managed to so skillfully portray each character's emotions and quietly give them arcs. I see you over there giving Ravenwing some confidence points 👀 I've never seen a Ravenwing with a personality and storyline like this, he is such an amazing character. I haven't even gotten to Fireheart, Tigerclaw, BLUESTAR. I'll admit, I have a silent dislike for canon Bluestar. But your version of Bluestar is freaking amazing, I especially love the scene with her and Fireheart during their training when she gets angry. She's not just a perfect, noble warrior with a tragic ending anymore (This is excluding the content from Bluestar's Prophecy). SHE HAS FAULTS! And Fireheart, showing him having the noble, justice seeking personality while also having him be an emotionally complex and relatable character is awesome! Fireheart is no longer a Mary Sue type character who is creepily in love with a dead woman who he spoke to twice! Tigerclaw has depth for once, he isn't just some evil guy anymore! He feels fear, he feels love, he's more than just a villain. He's shown to be terrifying when Fireheart realizes what his father is capable of, he has a dark side that longs for power AND a soft side that tries to make excuses for the people he loves. HE'S FINALLY COMPLEX!! This is honestly one of my favorite rewrites of all time (although I don't really have a favorite XD andddd excluding those that haven't been written out) alongside Warriors Fire And Water, FatalBlow's Warriors Rewritten, and Strelles. You can rest assured that you have gone above and beyond to create one of the greatest Warriors Rewrites I've ever seen and it's truly payed off.

This is one of those asks that is so wonderfully nice and complimentary that I have absolutely no idea how to answer it with a coherent, thought-provoking response due to being overwhelmed with joy. Just be aware that I AM flailing and hollering to myself, and my pets are very startled.

[certainlysleepy]

Gotta say- heccin impressed by how many designs you can do with how long it took me to make that one Bluestar XD -Strelles

Thank you! :D

My secret is: I’ve got like,, at least sixty cats predrawn already,,,, I’m redrawing some who need the update, but I’ve been working on this for a While privately lol.

[savrenim]

Hey man, I am just wandering if I should go for another reread of ifmlam, but I wanna tell you that your writing blows my mind every single time, that your story telling keeps me captivted, that the relationship and dynamics created make me cry cause I know it won't last and that the skill with which you play with the what ifs and the world you created makes me smile. Thank you for the effort you put into you work, and please let me know if there is anything else you've done that I can read.

<3 <3 <3 <3 oh my gods this is. aaaah. thank you so much??? I am Crying.

so I still definitely am writing ifmlam -- the Hamilton film reminded me of some of the reasons that I originally fell in love with Hamilton, and even though my feelings about the setting remain Complicated, and ooof I have so many other projects that updates might be Slow, that is a thing that has definitely been spurred and is still happening. 

as for other things I’ve written/am writing which oh my gods oh my gods I cannot believe aaaah I’m so??? glad that you like stuff enough to want to read my other stuff?

--- we raise it up is my current fic that is updating most regularly, it is for The Magnus Archives and it also involves future foreknowledge as a super major plot point, bc oops “give characters knowledge of canon and see what they do with it” is apparently my favorite trope. I am usually very not into podcasts because I don’t process purely auditory things very well? (music is fine, which was why Hamilton worked, but also, I could read the lyrics.) but, uh, I read The Magnus Archives bc all of the transcripts exist online and that’s actually a pretty fun collection of interlacing short stories and worldbuilding and plot and gay! and fandom to get into and I think works just as well in a written medium as it does in an auditory one. the fic is major spoilers through season 4 and also kind of.... does assume background knowledge of seasons 1-4 to make sense, but I’m really really pleased with what I’ve written so far and what I’m planning to write I think the world background lore is maybe the hottest take I’ve ever had and I’m very much looking forward to the second half of the fic, that is kind of all about its reveal

-- the wind, the wind, the wind also known as lesbian Hadestown in space fanfic is something that I’ve been working on for oops a year and it’s finally gotten to the point where I’ve been dragged into an obsessive wanting to work on it and only it, which means that it’ll probably??? be ready for posting??? by the end of the week??? maybe two at most??? I’ll defs post a link on tumblr, but it’ll also go up on my ao3 page, which means if you temporarily subscribe to me as an author there you will not miss it. or just, like, check my ao3 page in a week or two.

-- gay murder elf bachelorette is a solo DnD campaign that a friend has been running for me as an experiment to kind of... flesh out I think a period of history in the world that they run a lot of their main campaigns in? anyways it’s been the experience of living in a novel and less like playing DnD, so I, uh, novelized three of the six arcs I’ve been in so far. they are:      -- Book 2: Of Wolves And Ravens: As Told By Three Letters Sent From Cloudfall Fort      -- Book 3: Tests of Faith (includes only one in-universe letter the rest of it is mostly dramatic storytelling, I might fix it one day but oooof so many writing projects so little time)       -- Book 4:To Stare Into Darkness: The Infestation Incident Of Black Lotus Labs, As Told By Four Letters Unsent, Three Letters Sent, And The Official Report Drafted By Acolyte Consecrate Iria Strell there are also canonical in-universe correspondences that can be found here and here that take place in between Books 3 and 4. I...may or may not write Book 5, which if I do will be Book 5: The Knives Behind Their Teeth: As Told By Consecrated Priest Iria Strell's Personal Notes On The Civilized Corpse Investigation that from the title alone you can tell was a banger (it is even MORE of a banger than the title implies. there was necromancy. there was the gay mess of THREE girlfriends all in the same town. there was Everyone Expects the Caedic Inquisition. there was dramatic truth reveals about my sketchy mentor. there was everything) but that is a balance of amount of time it takes to write these things vs Everything Else I Need To Do and I have recordings of the sessions so it’s not like I need them for memory means...??? we’ll see. the books are.... I really like them? I’m proud of my experimentation with the epistolary writing style. I think Book 4 is definitely better than Book 2 because I learned that I didn’t need to include every detail, and it’s definitely understandable to read without Book 2 if you’re willing to accept things in media res, so if you only read one I recommend that one. but they’re all pretty fun.

-- I’m also defs writing some original novels, that are eventually going to be posted for free online and I’ll probably start a tumblr that is just them but they’ll also be announced and linked to here? there’s The Numanok Files which are “bounty hunter punches ghosts in space” and will probably be coming out first, just bc it’s a series of novellas and it’s easier and less complicated to plot, and then trash novel (actually called “Opus” which has some cool in-universe meanings and is not just because this thing is my Magnum Opus, but trash novel in my heart) that is just. entirely self-indulgent written with zero intention of being good and only to be fun for me but in doing so is idk totally trashy but in some sense maybe the best thing I’ve ever written just in terms of it’s unapologetic and it does what it wants, which is what I like most in a story? but that is defs going to be several years because I want it all written before I start posting it and have I written a full conlang grammar structure and now need to write the language for my favorite fictional society in that universe? it’s more likely than you think. Numanok Files I wouldn’t be surprised if the first book is out within a year; it’s been fully outlined and partially drafted and the full drafting and editing process esp for something under 50k doesn’t really take me too long. I’m kind of transitioning from fanfic to original work just because I’m really excited about my ideas, so at this point I think ifmlam, wriu, and twtwtw are going to be the last fanfic I end up writing? but who knows.

this.... got very long but those are all of the things I’ve worked on and am working on in the immediate future, enjoy??? also gods no pressure to look into or enjoy any of them, I’m just so honored that you’ve enjoyed ifmlam to even consider checking anything else I write out

[avibuswebcomic]

“Avibus” has updated!

DEVIANTART | TAPAS | WEBTOON | SMACKJEEVES

Support on Patreon to read ahead!

Or buy me a ko-fi to keep pages coming!

[orbemnews]

Farther, Faster and No Sweat: Bike-Sharing and the E-Bike Boom As with all bicycles during the pandemic, electric bikes, or those with battery-powered motors to handle propulsion, boomed. The market research firm NPD Group said sales of e-bikes grew 145 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, outpacing sales of all bikes, which were up 65 percent. “Bike categories that catered to families and recreational and newer riders grew better than more performance-oriented bikes,” said Dirk Sorenson, a sports industry analyst at NPD, adding that e-bikes “overcome challenges like big hills or going on a longer ride than a typical bike.” But it’s not just consumer sales that have mainstreamed e-bikes. Municipal bike-sharing systems have increasingly adopted the technology, with some cities, including Charlotte, N.C., going with an all-electric fleet during the pandemic. Social distancing demands, the quest for safe and more accessible public transportation and sustainable travel measures have forged a growing adoption of e-bikes among travelers as well as local residents. “Covid sort of propelled electric bikes forward by years,” said Josh Squire, the founder and chief executive of Hopr, a bike-share service. Cities, bike-sharing companies and even a peer-to-peer bike-sharing platform (in which bike owners rent their bikes directly to users) are jumping into the e-bike ecosystem. Here’s how bike-sharing — sometimes called “micromobility” to include other small vehicles, such as scooters — has shifted in the tourism lull. Covid did not kill bike-sharing In the early days of the pandemic, bike-share usage stalled as those working from home stopped commuting. For essential workers who needed to travel, bike-sharing became an alternative to buses or trains, where they might be exposed to the virus by other passengers. Lyft, which manages bike-share fleets in nine cities — including the largest systems in New York City and Chicago — gave about 30,000 essential workers free yearly passes. “Covid was able to highlight micromobility as an essential transportation service, filling in where transit service stopped or where gaps existed and helping essential workers get to work,” said Samantha Herr, the executive director of the North American Bikeshare Association. As people began to leave their houses in summer, biking rebounded. In Honolulu, nearly 80 percent of members of the bike-sharing system Biki said riding was the safest form of public transportation during the pandemic. In Chicago, the Divvy bike-share system recorded its busiest month on record in August. In New York City, where Citi Bike added 3,700 new bikes in 2020, ridership exceeded 2019 levels in the last four months of 2020, according to a monthly report filed with the New York City Department of Transportation. The company said 27 percent of rides were deemed “casual,” or recreational, in 2020, versus 17 percent in 2019, with the most popular stations around hospitals and parks, reflecting the mix of essential and casual uses. Biking was clearly a remedy for cabin fever, and bike sharing is an affordable cure. In Miami, where hand sanitizer dispensers were installed at Citi Bike Miami stations, casual users have taken about 40 percent of rides in 2021 as tourism has ticked up. Colby Reese, the co-founder of DecoBike, which runs Citi Bike Miami, estimates about half a million visitors annually used the bike-share system before the pandemic. Plans are in place to add about 200 e-bikes this summer to the existing 2,000-bike fleet. “Because of Covid, outdoor things are more popular than they were before,” he said. E-bikes for the people The electrification of bike-share systems, accelerating now, has been underway for several years. In 2018, the Bikeshare Planning Guide from the Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative, a global initiative on sustainable transportation, called them “ideal for bikeshare because of their otherwise high upfront cost to users, and they can improve user comfort by reducing often-cited barriers to cycling such as fatigue, sweating, and longer-distance or hilly trips.” According to the North American Bikeshare Association, in 2019, the last year for which statistics are available, 28 percent of bike-sharing systems had e-bikes. It found e-bikes were used more intensively than traditional bikes, at a rate 1.7 times higher. In 2019, when the Madison BCycle fleet in Madison, Wis., went electric, usage more than doubled. Novelty was a driver, along with affordability. “To be able to try an e-bike for a very low rate for a day pass is what draws people initially to try it out,” said Helen Bradley, the general manager of Madison BCycle, where a day pass costs $15. “Then they get hooked,” she added, on the range of the bikes, which can go 30 to 35 miles on a full charge with top speed of about 17 miles per hour. Chicago plans to have 10,000 e-bikes in its Divvy system by 2022 — it added 3,500 e-bikes in 2020 — in a plan to provide accessibility to 100 percent of the city. Updated  March 2, 2021, 5:39 a.m. ET Adopting e-bikes hasn’t come without growing pains. In New York City, Citi Bike introduced e-bikes in 2018, but removed them in 2019 after reports of brakes malfunctioning, causing rider injuries (similar problems forced Lyft, which manages Citi Bike, to temporarily withdraw e-bikes from its systems in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco). Last winter, New York re-introduced Citi Bike e-bikes, which reach maximum speeds of 18 m.p.h., below the limit of 20 m.p.h. later set by the city for the pedal-assisted e-bikes. There are now about 3,700 e-bikes in the 19,000-bike system; the average e-bike gets over nine rides a day, while the average for pedal bikes is 3.5. “Putting a little bit of a motor on it makes cycling more attractive to a wider and aging audience,” said Aaron Ritz, who oversees the Indego bike-share system for the City of Philadelphia. Over the next five years, the Indego system will more than double in size, making half the fleet electric and focusing on historically underserved neighborhoods, which tend to be Black or Latin American. “The more we shift from single-occupancy vehicles, the better, for reasons of air quality, traffic safety, environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions,” Mr. Ritz said. Gregory F. Maassen, 53, a resident of Washington, D.C., describes the district’s Capital Bikeshare e-bikes as “built like tanks to withstand a lot of abuse.” E-bike aficionados, like Mr. Maassen, who founded a social group called E-bike Lovers, prefer higher-end bikes, but credit bike-sharing as a gateway for introducing them to a broader audience. “Interest in bike-share systems has had a great impact on the acceptance of e-bikes,” he said. “It gives people a low-cost entry into this new technology.” E-bikes can be purchased for a few hundred dollars, though most fans say quality bikes start around $1,500 and go much higher. But finding a fully charged bike is crucial, said Richard Strell, 68, a Bay Wheels bike-share rider in San Francisco. “I started using e-bikes because of Covid and I don’t own a car in San Francisco,” he said, noting that e-bikes with only seven or eight miles left on the battery were too weak to get him up hills. “I was excited, but it turned out to be disappointing.” Going farther, faster and mainstream Shared bike systems always aimed to go the “last mile” or fill the gap between public transit hubs and your destination. E-bikes makes them more serious contenders as transportation options by going farther with less effort. “If I can get someplace farther or faster, that matters when you’re picking a mode of transportation,” said Bill Dossett, the executive director of Nice Ride Minnesota, the nonprofit that started the shared mobility system in Minneapolis, now operated by Lyft, which plans to add about 2,000 e-bikes this spring. Lyft, the country’s largest bike-share service, has added transit information on its rideshare app in 17 cities to better coordinate with public transportation systems, in addition to showing available drivers, bikes and scooters. In Denver, users can buy transit passes through the app. “We’re giving people a user-friendly way to piece together trips and allow them to explore a city that historically would have been much harder,” said Caroline Samponaro, Lyft’s head of micromobility policy. The success of electric bikes and scooters has encouraged Bolt Mobility, which is in about 21 cities and college campuses, to develop electric mopeds, three-wheeled bikes and minicars, electric vehicles that offer more stability and protection. “These devices aren’t supposed to be just for 20-year-old kids, they’re supposed to be for everyone,” said Ignacio Tzoumas, the chief executive of Bolt Mobility. Bolt, which was co-founded by the Olympic gold-medalist sprinter Usain Bolt, has plans to bring its e-bikes and scooters to Tokyo in time for the Olympic Games this summer. Private bike-share systems predicted While most bike-share systems are affiliated with cities, entrepreneurs foresee a future in private bike shares for hotel guests, apartment complex renters or company employees. The peer-to-peer bike-sharing platform Spinlister is developing a private model that would station Rokit Ebikes at a hotel, for example, which could offer access as an amenity, leaving the management and maintenance to Spinlister. Before the pandemic, Hopr had plans to take its services, which include e-bikes, to hotels and create private bike-share systems, an effort paused by the dearth of travel. “We come from sharing and have the technology to unlock a bike from an app and rent it so it’s no hassle for the hotel,” Mr. Squire of Hopr said. Follow New York Times Travel on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And sign up for our weekly Travel Dispatch newsletter to receive expert tips on traveling smarter and inspiration for your next vacation. Source link Orbem News #BikeSharing #boom #EBike #Faster #Sweat

[strelles-universe]

@sparkwing drew Cardinalfire/Fireheart!

[strelles-universe]

Cloudywing, are you aware of how happy Fireheart was when you called him dad? He almost cried right then and there

Cloudywing perked up, "Wait he cried?"

"Almost," his uncle stressed, an expression of embarrassment crossing his face. Kitesong snickered from beside him, earning a hearty shove as he turned back to his nephew. "The operative word is almost."

"Well..." Cloudywing drawled, flicking his shortened tail with fond amusement. "He deserves it. He's never really been my uncle... he brought me to mom and made sure I ate and stayed with me when I screwed up..."

He purred gently, nudging Cardinalfire; "So yeah. He's more like a dad than an uncle you know?"

Kitesong laughed at her brother's teary eyed expression, "I think he's actually going to cry now."

[strelles-universe]

Wait I somehow missed this, Deadfoot, did you imply that Magpiestar is like a father to you? Just saying, he does sort of look the part. XD

Lol, I'm sure he'd be honoured.

Magpiestar whipped around hopefully, looking towards his slightly more sheepish deputy.

"I mean… yes," Deadfoot admitted, laughing when the older tom immediately began purring like a swarm of cicadas. "He wasn't even my mentor but he kept stepping in to help me learn when I was a kit. He didn't really have to but he stepped in when my dad died. Then, when I became his deputy, he spent even more time with me."

"Of course I did," Magpiestar said, nudging him. "I care about you. And for what it's worth, I think of you as a son too."

[strelles-universe]

“…Some of the most powerful Sarezi are said to be capable of bringing cats back from the dead though this is mostly rumors and myths.”

Strelles. What do you mean ‘mostly.’ I- is necromancy a thing in the Sky Kingdoms?

…also, one might assume that the sky kingdoms might have something similar with skyclan…

Okay so hilariously this is actually the wrong rank list - it was updated recently- but you still caught some stuff XD

Not quite necromancy no, but there is absolutely a reason Ahasra is named for their folkloric divine who rose from ashes.

And the Skies have A Lot to do with SkyClan

[strelles-universe]

Back to writing the planning document for Fan the Flames and-

dudes. I am only in chapter three of a Dangerous Path

[strelles-universe]

Grabbed a word from asitatu phrases! -> Ashamish neha (a moonless night)

I realized that since the phrase as a whole means, "an unprotected night" or "suspicious" that it makes sense that grabbing that first bit "moon-lack" would probably be used casually.

So now ashamish means unprotected and vulnerable, suspicious or jumpy. And now that I'm writing this, it could probably also derive into "ever-moonless" which would be interpreted as "paranoid" and "gullible" at the same time.

Anyway this was pretty rambley - what do y'all think?

EtA: Nalashamish -> paranoid, gullible, prone to suspicion

[strelles-universe]

Gonna say it now; Embrace the Inferno might b a bit slow in the making - not because I don't have any ideas lmao - but as y'all probably noticed, I've been on a worldbuilding spree.

As Embrace the Inferno is the last book in A Prophecy of Fire, I've decided that I really need to get at least the basics of the worldbuilding down for the groups outside of the clans. Since the second arc is the Journey to the Lake and a lot of shit is changing because of this last book, I want as many possible conflicts and plot threads available to me.

So I'm getting a bunch of stuff for the loners settled since they're the ones who'll likely be encountered the most frequently. Plus, I also wanna look at things that were happening at the same time in the Darkest Hour - figure out what's going on with Havoc and Maluri specifically.

I'm a bit of a perfectionist so while I am more used to posting WIPs to tumblr, I will mostly be transferring complete worldbuilding over so if you want to hear me ramble, join the discord server.

EtA - the link to the discord server. Seriously guys, help me organize this thing

[strelles-universe]

Now starting on chapter 15/16

[strelles-universe]

The further I get into this book, the more ceremonies I need to add to the "ceremonies of the clans" list. They're even more ritualistic than I first intended and it's pretty awesome