#uss sorcerer

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

My first two fanfictions

My extremely rare-pair Star Wars fic

My all OC Star Trek fic

[abardnamedreginald]

im a wolf-demon-salamander-grey treefrog-katydid-cricket-luna moth-klingon-trad vampire-cat-romulan-harry potter wizard-gnome-drow-orc-wood elf-high elf-werewolf-twilight vampire-chihuahua-android-bard-druid-sorcerer-d&d wizard-lotr wizard-mind flayer-kraken-owlbear-genetically modified human-andes mint-harry potter merperson-h20 mermaid-great white shark-raven named nevermore-amontillado-sewer clown-animatronic-ink person-reality bender-ringwraith-chicken-fairy-telescreen-multibear-manic pixie dream girl-d class-horcrux-dragon-unicorn-pegasus-among us crewmate-among us imposter-game master-sharpie king size marker-dwarf-dragonborn-toothbrush-rock-paper-scissors-lizard-vulcan-politician-god-phone guy-icebreakers ice cubes pineapple-a doctor not a miracle worker-troll-ent-poodle-rabbit-Bear.-orange zombie-purple zombie-green zombie-professor plum-col. mustard-in the library-with a knife-hoola dancer-fish-villager-pelecan-defense against the dark arts professer-mafia boss-peep rabbit-peep chicken-gymnast-hairbrush-philosopher-music freak-school teacher-kidnapper-police lieutenant-farmer-trash can-dumpster out back-turtle-tribble-my little pony-kratt brother-high diver-pearl diver, dive, dive, deeper-chef-fire-earth-water-wind-wasp-bee-hornet-yellowjacket-mud dabber-grasshopper-rattlesnake-armadillo-cowboy-flashlight-starfleet science officer-harlet-elephant-gater-muppet-emo-goth-preppy-teabag-loser-sucker-mouse-rat-a puppet-a pauper-a pirate-a poet-a pawn-and a king-father albert-the pope-a nun-pastor jeff-gambler-metalhead-death rocker-the grim reaper-angel-lighthouse-paw patrol dog-hobbit-starfish-sponge-crab-squid-shrimp-jellyfish-chipmunk-hammerhead shark-nurse shark-humpback whale-blue whale-orca-sexual harrassment panda-south park character-jakoffasaurus-scrabble board-ouija board-pillow-toilet paper-period pad-tampon-baby diaper-elderly diaper-martian-touch tone telephone-starfleet operations-starfleet command-kirk-spock-bones-sulu-chekov-uhura-scotty-yeoman rand-KHAN!!!-mudd-the uss enterprise-the uss reliant-botany bay-v'ger-valeris-saavik-sybok-surak-sarek-the abbreviation 'idk'-sheldon-leonard-penny-howard-raj-amy-bernadette-mary cooper-george sr-george jr-missy cooper-meemaw-tam-dr sturgis-dr linkletter-dr jack bright-dr clef-dr gears-dr kondraki-dr mann-dr iceberg-dr crow-dr rights-dr sherman-scp 049-scp 3008-scp 4231-scp 166-scp 682-scp 2521-scp 590-O5 6-bill cipher-stanley pines-stanford pines-dipper-mabel-wendy-soos-schmebulok-gideon-mcgucket-dipper goes to taco bell-sheriff blubs-deputy durland-tad strange-andy taylor-william afton-michael afton-elizabeth afton-crying child-henry emily-charlotte emily-dave miller-jack kennedy-dee kennedy-peter kennedy-steven stevenson-aragorn-sam-frodo-merry-pippin-boromir-legolas-gimli-gandalf-faramir-denethor-sauron-elrond-thranduil-harry-hermione-ron-voldemort-pettigrew.-moony-padfoot-prongs-snape-edward-bella-alice!!-carlisle-charlie-cthulhu-greg heffley-pennywise-bendy-sammy-norman-jack-alice (susie)-allison-henry stien-joey drew-bruenor battlehammer-raskolnikov-heather-heather-heather-veronica-jd-kurt-ram-martha-kurt cobain-david bowie-freddie mercury-hozier-mitski-lemon demon-jack stauber-tally hall-hamilton-burr-jefferson-madison-washington-phillip-angelica-eliza-peggy-king george iii-king henry viii-ben franklin-catherine of aragon-anne boleyn-jane seymour-anne of cleves-katherine howard-catherine parr-dracula-𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂-evan hansen-conner murphey-john adams-raymond barron-fred randall-jane doe-ocean-noel-mischa-constance-ricky-karnak-vergil-alternate-thatcher davis-ruth-dave-cesar-mark-adam-sarah-jonah-evelyn-gabriel-trump-biden-sunny-basil-kel-aubrey-hero-mari-vanessa (the mean girl that kinda likes u)-tux the linux penguin-perry the platypus hybrid princess...dont fw me

[winterpinetrees]

(the gap years part 4)

This one has the road trip crew, and the Mercuralis family. I switch from present to past tense halfway through and I can’t be bothered to fix it. As always, it isn’t good but it is. Enjoy the ocs!

…………

June 10th 2019

North of San Francisco

They drive north.  The body has been dealt with (Marin “sent it to the elven world”, as if that answered any questions). Clay has judged that the sword slash on Brian’s chest isn’t too serious and they’re all in agreement that they need to get out of San Francisco before more elves return. However, they’re not going to let Brian drive until there’s a normal amount of blood in his body again, so Sierra takes the wheel and leads them across the Golden Gate Bridge on an adventure that will almost certianly kill them. 

She knows the car well. That makes sense, because she basically built it. It’s a heavily modified version of a 2016 Daedalus, an electric car from her father’s trillion dollar obsession with all things that look like spacecraft. To his credit, the car does have that aesthetic. It’s shiny stormcloud gray with falcon-wing doors and huge wrap-around windows. The design is futuristic and sleek and covered in screens. However, real spaceships are built to last, and be safe under any circumstances. Most of the work that Sierra has spent spent working on this car over the past three years has been making sure the brakes work and the doors lock. Sometimes she calls the car the USS Audacity, because how dare it have so many problems. Her friends call it The Pigeon.

So Sierra, her friends, and an elf prince drive north on Route 101. She turns around and looks over the back of the seat at their fantastical aquantaince. (This is fine. The car can drive itself. It can’t drive itself well, but they’re on the highway and adrenaline is one hell of a drug). “Was that gun on the kill setting? Do you even know what that means?”    

Marin narrows his eyes. “Yes. Turn the dial right to stun, and left to kill.”

Another car speeds by them, and Clay reaches out from the passenger seat to grab the wheel. “Sierra, please drive the car”.

“Fine.” She keeps making eye contact with Marin though the rearview mirror. “How’s it work?”

“Magically produced concussive force. Elves are more vulnerable to that.”

“So that gun is a long-range Brian?”

“Please do not expect me to do that again!” Brian explains. He’s understandably distressed about having a body count.

“I’m joking. So do you have bullets too or are you elves really just magic cannon people?”

“Why is this the thing that you are focusing on?” The elf asks. The rich kids have been asking him questions since the second the fighting stopped. Clay is skeptical and keeps asking broad questions, maybe trying to catch him in a lie. Brian wants history and culture, but he’s a bit shell shocked. Sierra is out for blood.

“I think it’s important to know how the guns work if we’re going to be fighting with them!”

Marin explains the basics. There are concussive guns that are far more effective on elves than humans, and strictly magical ones that are more like lasers and have an opposite use. Elves rarely use mundane projectile weapons because any skilled sorcerer can send bullets between worlds before they would hit.

“Why are they more dangerous for you? Are you fragile compared to humans? Do you all have hollow bones?” Clay asks, predictably interested in the anatomy of aliens. Marin stares up at the sunroof. He is pointedly not answering the question.

Clay reaches a reassuring hand back towards the prince. “If you have hollow bones, that is really something that I should be aware of”.

“Can you walk on snow like Legolas?” Brian asks.

Sierra is no longer looking at the road. “Probably with magic.”

Brian starts to laugh, even though all of the adrenaline is out of his system. Clay does too. “Marin. Please. Do you have hollow bones like a bird?"

He relents. “Not like a bird.”

“But you do have hollow bones”.

“More or less”.

Behold. The last hope for a free human race.

…………

Ishtar forfeited the right to reasonable working hours the day she decided that she simply must get her revenge. Even the sturdiest althumans were forbidden from working for more than two fifths of the day and seven days out of every nine, but work never ended for the Apex. Even with an army of aides and an exceptional seneschal, Ishtar hardly ever had time to rest. 

However, she refused to leave her children without a mother after all the work she’d done to stay alive. She made time for them. Revenge had been a hollow thing, after all. Ishtar still dreams of her final battle at the Conservatory, standing over her classmate, her rival, a heir from Gens Adust, and shattering his left wrist with her boot. She’d probably been expected to kill him for what he’d done in that wargame, but he had surrendered in the end. Ishtar did make sure he received his noble vambrace, the visible symbol of his fitness to rule, a full two weeks after the rest of them. That final ceremony where she and Ryn were declared the best of their class while the son of the man who helped murder her parents stood in a cast, was the first and last time she felt satisfied with that kind of violence.

The boy, eventually father as well, was dead now. He’d chosen to die fighting this time, and her husband stabbed him through the heart. His wrist had never healed quite right. Even if Ishtar had killed him, the boy wouldn’t have been the first. She’d directly killed enough elves that she would have lost track if the deaths hadn’t been tallied on her arm. The last one had been the old apex. She’d seemed content, at the end.

Ishtar held a title that killed you one way or another, but tonight she was alive and watching a movie with her family. 

“If I were the captain, I’d throw the alien into the human world. That’s a lot easier than getting it stuck in the airlock”. Suen was old enough to know her own magical limits, and very proud that she could switch between worlds on her own.  

“Moonlight, elves were a lot less powerful back then. I still can’t switch worlds under that sort of pressure”. Ryn patiently explained. Suen was as bull-headed as her mother and likely to be as tall. She had her father’s skinny frame though, and his relentless focus. 

“That’s why I said if I were the captain!” 

They were watching one of the ancient films that Ryn had watched as a Voyager boy. Elf sci-fi from their space age and human sci-fi were shockingly similar. Alien invasions, blinking lights, and blatantly fake science must be universal. Ishtar had seen the film a hundred times. 

“If you were the captain, you’d get eaten.  You’re too loud and can’t hide anywhere!” Her son Chandra replied. He only ever argued with his sister. Overall, the boy was an artist. An artist sure to inherit Ishtar’s colossal strength. 

“I would not. You’re just angry that I’m taller than you.” 

“I am not!” 

The horrible alien charged across the screen after the hero. Her youngest child, Fen, nearly jumped out of his seat. The video quality wasn’t good, but the fact that the movie existed at all after nearly ten thousand years was remarkable. 

Arjuna shook his head and smiled. “Tar, next time we should watch something a little less violent.” He looked at his wife like they were sharing an inside joke. He had one of the highest body counts of anyone in the high nobility, and she had watched nearly her entire family die as an even younger child than any of the kids. He was her shadow. Where Ishtar was loud and confident, Arjuna was quiet and haunted. He had been an assassin once, but two hundred years of violence was too much for him. Arjuna killed a dozen people during the coup and swore to never do it again. Maybe, if they pulled off this scheme, Fen would only ever need to be afraid of monsters on screen. 

Ryn’s vambrace buzzed with a warning. So did Ishtar’s, but she clicks the notification away. Whatever had happened could wait a few moments. 

Outside, the moon was nearly at its highest point. No elf had walked there in eight thousand years. 

In the other world, where three rich kids and a lost prince looked for a place to spend the night, the international space station glowed overhead.

………………

Things that are accurate in this post: the moon on June 10 2019.

Things that are not accurate: how children act. how hollow bones work.

The car is essentially a Tesla Model X. The movie is a pg-13 elf version of Alien (1979).

[qemma]

The next installment featuring many Nicolas Cages! Includes 42 films referenced and listed below the cut

Top Row: Con Air Next Left Behind Bringing out the Dead Leaving Las Vegas Moonstruck Vampires Kiss Peggy Sue got Married (Its a microphone) Kick Ass Spider Noir Main Panel: The Wicker Man Outcast History of Swear Words Season of the Witch The Croods Valley Girl Raising Arizona Color out of Space National Treasure Knowing Willy's Wonderland Frozen Ground Trapped in Paradise Matchstick Men The Rock World Trade Centre Face Off Mandy Bad Lietenant: Port of Call New Orleans In Facade of building: USS Indianapoils: Men of Courage The Sorcerer's Apprientice The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent City of Angels Primal Bottom: Ghost Rider Ant Bully G-Force Pig Adaptation Gone in 60 Seconds Lord of War Snake Eyes

[brokenbowstring-cobbledcoffin]

the lullaby

written with @lustyargonianmaid 's oc maeve because i love them both so soooo much

- us'dalhar : a conjunction i made up meaning "my child" from uss/ussa (mine/my) and dalhar (child). i imagine such a term would be reserved more for apprentices or disciples rather than actual familial relationships, and would serve as a patronizing term of endearment.

- wael : "fool" in drow. yes i have been looking for an excuse to use it.

--

Elthiilith held her rapier up in the firelight, still coaxing some dried blood off the blade. She should have had the forethought to wipe it clean before she put it away, and washing the scabbard was going to be a whole other nightmare, but she had time. Astarion had just settled into his trance, meaning she was the only one left awake. Letting the elves manage the night watch was very convenient for the other, lesser races who needed sleep, anyway. The more steady sleep they got, the more useful they were. At least, to her understanding.

She hadn’t really thought about it, hadn’t realized she had started humming. Low and soft and mostly to herself, an old lullaby, one of the first tunes she learned from the dark minstrel who served as her teacher. It rumbled in her throat– she always took it down an octave, her lower register was much kinder to her– and rattled her teeth as she massaged the viscera from her sword.

Someone moved out of the corner of her eye– Maeve, her violet-hued skin washed out in the moonlight, glittering with her strange fey magic and making her look like a glowing amethyst. She stalled her humming for a minute, watching her toss and turn as she tried to get back into her trance. She turned back to her blade when the movement stopped.

“Why’d you stop?” Maeve’s silky voice asked in a whisper.

Elthiilith hardly blinked at the question, “Stop what, us’dalhar?”

She heard Maeve roll over again. “Stop humming,” There was a pause, “It sounds pretty.”

“I’d hope so,” Elthiilith’s humor was dry enough to catch fire, “Given that I’d made a killing with my voice.”

“Hm…” Maeve scooted a little closer, making Elthiilith stiffen in response, “Sing me a lullaby?”

Elthiilith clicked her tongue, “What, like an infant?”

“Oh come on,” She whined, setting her head on Elthiilith’s thigh, “Can’t I be babied a little bit?”

Maeve looked up at her, blinking those otherworldly eyes innocently. Elthiilith simply raised a brow, before lowering the hilt of her sword so the bottom of the blade almost brushed against Maeve’s neck. Not with intent, she maintained the facade that she hadn’t just moved it on purpose. It was simply a warning, hoping the startle the young drow off. “You’re so foolish, Maeve, putting your pretty little head in my clutches like this. So pretty I’d love to just take it and hang it on my wall.”

Maeve rolled her eyes, not phased in the slightest. “Ugh, always with the act, Elthee. Like I couldn’t turn your organs into paste and your sword into butterflies.”

The grin on Maeve’s face was one she’d worn well, but hadn’t seen often. Sweet, threatening, and a side of mad. Elthiilith moved her sword, so as to not provoke the sorcerer.

“So are you going to sing to me?” Maeve prodded again.

“We are sleeping out in the wilderness, us’dalhar. Have you no fear of the–?” Elthiilith simply looked down, and remembered who she was talking to. She was surprised she had forgotten, given that the drow radiated fey magic. With a sigh through her nose, she relented. “Fine. I will hum you a lullaby. But since you do not speak drow, I will explain it to you.”

“It’s a lullaby, how much meaning can go into it?”

“It’s our culture, wael. You wanted to learn it, didn’t you?”

Maeve looked up at her, grinning, “Of course I want to learn it!”

“Then hush– you’re going to wake the others up.”

Maeve pursed her lips, but Elthiilith could see where the corners of her lips bent into a smile. She nodded.

With a long, onerous sigh, Elthiilith began her tale. “It starts with a young girl, smarter and more clever than all her sisters. She goes through the underdark and devises her way out of endless traps– she outsmarts dark mantles, mindflayers, and even devils. But then she meets Lolth, and tries to outsmart Her. The moment she thinks she’s won, and starts to celebrate, Lolth bites off her head for her arrogance.”

“Hm. Sounds like a dark lullaby.”

Elthiilith snorted, “You haven’t heard Elazthirin Elgg-hor– ‘Elazthirin the Destroyer.’ One of the most famous nursery rhymes in Menzoberranzan. Nothing was sweeter than walking by a crowd of kids playing, singing about using surfacescum entrails as decoration.”

“Oh.”

“Yes. I’ve learned such subjects are ‘taboo’ with… people of weaker constitutions,” She shot pointed glance at Wyll, causing Maeve to snicker. “But I think they’re enriching. Teach a child strong values– like keep your nose where it belongs.” There was a pause, and Elthiilith’s face grew sour, “…to think I sang it to my daughter.”

Maeve’s head tilted up in Elthiilith’s lap, but that was the only indication of her surprise. “…You have a daughter?”

Elthiilith set her jaw. “Had. But that was… ages ago, now.” With a sharp inhale, she straightened, “Unimportant.”

She cleared her throat, and began humming again. The tune was a little different than the one she was humming earlier, but had a similar soft, melancholy melody. Mournful, she thought her companions would describe it. To her, it was simply what lullabies sounded like.

Elthiilith spent hours seated like that, Maeve’s head in her lap as she rested, breathing slow and even. She had long put her sword away, and found her fingers playing with Maeve’s white, braided hair. She picked the buds of mushrooms that tried to grow in her scalp and the fabric of Elthiilith’s pants.

She instinctively stiffened when she saw Astarion’s rigid form sway, before he stretched languidly. His red eyes scanned camp before falling on Elthiilith, then Maeve.

His brows arched upwards and his mouth fell into his sarcastic grin.

“What?” She snapped, no louder than a whisper, as to not to disturb the drow girl beneath her.

Astarion simply grinned, “Oh, nothing. She’s got you wrapped around her finger, is all.”

[dafukdidiwatch]

The Zodiac as Nick Cage Movies

Aries: Knowing (2009)

Taurus: G-Force (2009)

Gemini: National Treasure/National Treasure 2 (2004/2007)

Cancer: Moonstruck (1987)

Leo: Primal (2019)

Virgo: Vampire’s Kiss (1989)

Libra: The Wicker Man (2006)

Scorpio: City of Angels (1998)

Sagittarius: Ghost Rider (2007)

Capricorn: Face/Off (1997)

Aquarius: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010)

Pisces: USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage (2016)

[internetexplorersclub]

brightness and movement of the sea

A man named Martin Parr has spent 20 years collecting Soviet space dog memorabilia and I'm veryjealous of his collection. The important thing is you can purchase a decanter of Belka and Strelka online.

Longtime readers will know I'm always interested in the history of language and the meaning of words change, so this piece on how the Greeks thought of color is right up my alley—it starts with how they didn't use the word blue to describe the ocean, it was instead "‘pansy-like’ (ioeides), ‘wine-like’ (oinops), or purple (porphureos)." This is just fascinating:  

When the sea is called porphureos, what is described is a mix of brightness and movement, changing according to the light conditions at different hours of the day and with different weather, which was the aspect of the sea that most attracted Greek sensitivity.

In an interesting parallel, scientists know that sharks' eyes see only the blue-green spectrum, but they recently discovered that certain types of sharks emit a bioflourescent glow when viewed in blue light—a glow that we're unable to see without a filter.

A secondary parallel from the pages fromThe History of Ink, listing out names of ink across languages. I like that you can see the multiple origins, and how Old English and Anglo-Saxon pull from two distinct sources for ink and blæk, respectively.

Pompeii archaeologists have found what they call a "sorcerer's treasure trove," and what's interesting is they believe most of the items are ritualistic, and would have belonged to women!

Also, apparently the accepted date that Pompeii erupted (August 24) is wrong—because they found graffiti that listed a date of October 17, which would have (obviously) had to have been written before the eruption. This is amazing for two-fold reasons: the first, because this is a scribbled inscription in charcoal and I have no idea how it survived, and secondly because the previous date we had was just based on Pliny the Younger's account, which he wrote 20 years after the eruption!

I want a copy of this sign in the Cloisters gardens desperately.

The USS Constitution museum has shared a story about how a figurehead of Andrew Jackson got his head sawn off in 1833. A 28-year-old captain rowed out in the middle of a storm, sawed the head off (there was a metal pole that prevented him from sawing it off at the neck), then went to Washington to try and present it to Jackson. He ended up giving it to Van Buren:

Upon Dewey’s announcing himself as the person who had taken off the Constitution’s figure-head Mr. Van Buren gave a great start and was thrown off his usual balance. Recovering himself, he demanded the particulars of the exploit, which seemed to afford him no small satisfaction.

Dewey's seal later in life, which is Veni (I came), [a Saw], Vici (I conquered), which cannot be improved in any way.

Finally, and I cannot make this stuff up:

No they have not found him, no it is not the first time it has happened in the county.

etcetera: The BBC once described the Teletubby Tinky Winky as "a sweet, technological baby with a magic bag" which is truly A Mood.

[rosesisupposes]

Destined, part 12

aka He’ssss Back

Character Tags: Virgil/Anixety ; Patton/Creativity ; Patton/Morality ; Logan/Logic ; Remy/Sleep ; Dante/Deceit

Chapter Pairings: None, Just some aesthetic appreciation of ya boi Dante

Chapter Warnings: Deceit as villain but goddamn he’s still pretty, graphic violence, not-fully-consensual acts (not sexual though), cigarettes

Reader Tags: @residentanchor @royally-anxious​ @sanderssidesfanblog @bewarethegrammarpolice

Summary: After centuries of acting as an oracle to heroes, quest-seekers, and villains alike, Virgil just wants to live as a normal, modern human. For someone who can see infinite probabilities, you’d think he’d know better.

<<Chapter 11 | Masterlist | Chapter 13>>

Read on Ao3  [link updated]

Walking to the cafe the next morning, Virgil was deep in happy thought. He was happy for Logan and Patton, and happier still as he remembered he’d probably see Roman today. He always worried about the future, but just now there were so many good possibilities that involved him. He couldn’t remember the last time that was true.

Suddenly, a “Psssst!” from an alley just off the street startled him into the present. His eyes caught on shiny snakeskin loafers and dragged up black slacks and a black button-down, hemmed and accented in gold thread. He met a pair of familiar brown eyes with scattered gold streaks throughout and gulped. It’s him. The sorcerer had found him again.

“Sorry for the suddennesss, I’ve been trying to find you for two days straight,” the man said with a crooked smile. If he hadn’t been so worried about the sorcerer’s intentions, Virgil might have swooned at that smile - the sorcerer was still as undeniably attractive as he’d been in that seashore grotto all those years ago. “I didn’t have a chance to introduce myself before - I’m Dante.”

“Um. Hello. Is this about crashing into you? I’m really sorry, it was an accident...”

“No, no, not at all. That’s old news,” the man chuckled, casually waving a hand that held a smoldering cigarette. “The real news is that you are a Sage, and I’m a ssorcerer.”

Virgil stared at him, wide-eyed. Oh Thiota’s tears, he did recognize me.

“I, uh, don’t know what you’re, um, talking about...” he stammered, looking down.

“I get it, you’re nervouss. You’ve been hiding, and so few could possibly understand. But that’s why I wanted to find you. Because I understand.” Dante was still smiling, friendly. His voice was light yet earnest. He took a slow drag of his cigarette. Virgil blinked, unsure how to react. Had he judged the man too quickly? Had the sorcerer reformed his ways since Virgil had last encountered him? But if he had, why would the glimpse of his destiny that Virgil had seen still point to self-interest and plotting?

“I… you do? I mean. Um. What do you understand?” It was a not a great day for Virgil and coherency.

Dante sighed. “I know it’s sscary to admit. But from the minute we ran into each other the other day, I knew you were like me – out of our natural time and place. Out of our element. Here we both are living in this modern, mundane world – and you and I both know neither of us iss mundane. And I may be mistaken but – I think I know you, Sage. I’ve met you before, in a past form. Your name wass once Zephyr, correct?”

Virgil met the other man’s eyes directly for the first time in this surprising interaction. Dante certainly didn’t seem to be angry or attempting to threaten him. And playing fully ignorant clearly hadn’t worked. But he’d still rather not give up any more information than what Dante already knew.

“Yes, I was Zephyr, centuries ago. You seem to be familiar with my power. Have I divined for you before?”

Dante’s smile morphed into a wry grin. “Yes, you did. And like any great Sage, your riddle always had the chance end badly for me. The choicess weren’t on my side, that time.” He shrugged philosophically and took another drag. “The real downside was the backlash of the ritual, and the change it had on my form. It took me 500 years to shift back into something thiss human. And clearly, I’m not perfect.”

Virgil had thought he was imagining the added sibilance of the sorcerer’s words right up until he saw Dante flick a forked tongue at him with a wink. Suddenly, he wondered about those snakeskin ‘shoes’.

“But that’s why I’m so glad to have found you,” Dante continued. “I’ve been hoping to find more like uss. The magic folk. I know there musst be more of us in the world still. I tried visiting the spritess out in their hideaways but they’ve given up on the public life entirely. Only the renegades and runawayss are left, and they live as human.”

Virgil shrugged. “Of course they’re in hiding. The world has moved on from us magical beings. Humanity has achieved so much with their own ingenuity and technology – they don’t need us  to conjure or dinve anymore. For this life, I’ve been living as just a regular human. It’s been so much nicer than my old lives of solitude and visions. Humanity has several…” He blushed faintly, thinking of Roman’s teasing smile. “...perks.”

Dante seemed shocked. “But… we could do so much more! Yes, technology has advanced but jusst imagine what we magic folk could do to push it further! And well. We’re not like them. We can do more, ssee more, be more. Why would you want to hide that? It’s bad enough to think of how much has already been losst.” Another exhale of cigarette smoke morphed into a tiny dragon, flapping its wings and blowing clouds until it dissipated in the breeze. A second drag produced a life-size fairy that flittered and waved at Virgil before floating off into nothingness. A vise squeezed around his heart, thinking of old friends now long gone.

“Maybe we’d help. Maybe we’d get in the way. Maybe we’d hurt them all accidentally. Or maybe they’d hurt us,” Virgil sighed. “I’m not sure what would happen, but I do know that I’m tired. I just want to live out this attempt at humanity and rejoin my family in the ether. They say the passage of time is meaningless there, and I’ve had enough lifetimes for any existence at this point.”

“That… I ssuppose I understand. Waiting through the ages iss…difficult” Dante looked up and past Virgil’s head, a bleak and empty look in his eyes, “I suppose it would be rude of me to assk you do continue to endure. I had just hoped…” A new look flitted across Dante’s face. Uncertainty? Disappointment? It was replaced by determination as he tossed his cigarette to the ground and snuffed it. “I won’t bother your further, then, unlesss you seek me out. But before I go, I must ask you. Sage, I entreat you, tell me my desstiny.”

Virgil blanched. The invocation. Of course Dante remembered the exact phrase to compel a Sage to act. Virgil couldn’t deny Dante’s request without risking his very existence. Seeing the steely resolve in Dante’s eyes, Virgil could tell the sorcerer remembered that perfectly, and knew exactly what he was doing. He hadn’t reformed his ways at all. The last bit of hope Virgil had clung to vanished. 

He took a deep breath, and in a voice thick with anger followed the script he knew by heart. “Seeker, to know your destiny is to be bound by it. Are you prepared to risk your future?”

The sorcerer did not resist the urge to smirk as he replied, “I am.”

“Then give me your hands, and prepare to be bound.”

If he was going to have to see the man’s future, again, he wanted his own answers. Virgil grasped Dante’s arms and looked not forward, but back.

The sorcerer had been telling the truth about some things, at least. He’d taken only a couple of years from his first future-telling to put his plan into motion, and his recovery had been just over 500 years in the works. But what had the ambitious man done that had led to his downfall? Could it be used against him? What would Virgil be able to see?

A flash of golden light lights the dark room. The space is incredibly familiar - Dante makes his way through obstacles with barely any thought given. Past dark shapes to a smaller room, lit only by an orb of azure fire. He loops his fingers and twist them in a complex gesture, and the fire disperses entirely, revealing a wooden staff that throws off waves of pure energy. His heart hammers as he reaches for it, his own magic pulsing in time with the raw power of the sprite-staff. As his hand makes contact, the magic sings to him, a high keening that whispers of possibilities to make or mar the world as a whole. He can force every inhabitant to do as he bids, or tear this world down and build a new one in his place. It will be just as easy as snapping his fingers - all he will need are the final rituals to bring the staff to its full potential. He remembers the lie he was able to conceal from his dissertation - from the faculty, from the headmaster, even from Septimus. The staff was not intended to be tied to just one ritual or purpose. No, its creation at the hands of all four sprite tribes means there are four rituals, each of one tribe’s old gods, each uniting the full power of those tribes into the staff. Once he’s finished, he will be able to control nearly everything - water, fire, ground, and green life.

Time blurs. Dante has visited the petrified wood altar of the tree sprites, deep in a secluded wood; the pearly altar of the water sprites at the bottom of the sea; the sliced stalagmite altar of the ground sprites in a deep cave. Now he climbs a volcano, approaching the stone altar of the fire sprites. One final ritual, and his power will be cemented. Soon, he will be able to limit and reverse the spread of humanity across this planet, and magical creatures from fairies to dragons will acknowledge him as their savior and master. He reaches the top the volcano, where long-since cooled lava created a natural altar. There is a faint humming as the staff nears its final destination. The humming grows louder as he places it in the grooves of the stone and begins the final binding spell. It takes both power and concentration, but Dante has plenty of both to spare. So deeply is he engrossed in the workings of the spell that he doesn’t note the growing heat under his feet until he smells scorched leather. Opening his eyes, he blanches. The rock he is standing on is melting slowly back into lava. He whirls around to see a tiny fire sprite sending pulse after pulse of magic heat into the rock below them. Dante is torn - if he casts a spell now to protect himself from the heat, the ritual will be disrupted. But the power is too tempting. If he hurries, and pours even more of his own magic into it, he might just finish before he gets scorched. He is sweating from the exertion and the heat around him, but he can at last feel the ritual nearing completion.

The staff is too bright to look at directly, the essence of heat dripping out of the altar to twine around its no-longer-wooden form. Tiny points of searing pain erupt on his back. The sprite is throwing fireballs at him now, ruining his concentration. “Cease, you interfering pest! Know you not that I bring your world salvation? Who are you to interrupt me?” Dante rasps out. “My name is Flame,” the sprite says. “And I don’t believe that you intend to save anyone but yourself.” The fireballs continue and the heat cooks his flesh as Dante stares, then shudders in mirthless laughter. This was part of his destiny, of course. “The world will turn to Flame.” Mordred’s mercy on that damned Sage. Dante’s laughter is thin and high, becoming more and more of a wheeze as the effort of so many spells saps him. He releases the ritual spell and redoubles his heat protection, but his energy is flickering and his flesh is burning. He needs tougher skin, less surface area to burn. He needs to survive. His body shudders and twists as he curls in on himself. But the curling continues long past what the normal limit should be. He cowers from the flames and feels them recede, but they keep receding. No, he is shrinking. Cramps spasm through his smooth muscles and scales as Dante the adder writhes on hot stone. Flame the sprite regards him curiously, then traps his snake-form in a floating cage of fire. There is nothing to do but hiss angrily as the altar becomes lava once more, consuming the sprite-staff and all its potential power.

Virgil brought himself back to the present, shuddering. Living through others’ lives had never been quite so disturbing. His shoulders felt cramped from having lived Dante’s serpentine transformation. And he still had an obligation to look into the man’s future, thanks to the ever-helpful Law of Sages. With an internal groan, he let himself fall into his power once more.

He’d seen this future once before, but hadn’t had to look as deeply through the particular choices. Now, he fought back the urge to cry or vomit as he saw the devastation that Dante was all too willing and ready to enact. The man had no qualms whatsoever if it meant he could bring back magical beings - even if that required other beings, like humans or animals, to perish. Virgil could see many ways that Dante would succeed but just as many where he would fail. There was Roman, in every one of those failures, interfering somehow. Now his eyes were definitely stinging. Here, he accidentally tripped over Dante in a crucial moment, ruining his concentration. There, he deliberately tackled the glowering man as he prepared to cast a destruction spell, or access a database of genetic code, or leech the lifeforce out of a human into a tiny, winged corpse. But worst of all were the futures in which Roman charged the sorcerer only to be struck fatally with a casual bolt of magic, or those where he was among the crowds of humans penned and shackled under Dante’s rule. Virgil searched into the near future - where was the critical juncture? Was there one moment that made this all avoidable? Sweet Pythia, there was. Thank the stars.

A Sage in the midst of foretelling was a channel for a magic as ancient as life itself. They spoke not with their own voice, nor with their form’s body, but with the echoes of past and future Sages, of deep caverns and mountain peaks. Virgil opened his mouth and released Dante’s second fortune.

“Your triumph can only be deterred by the inadvertent prints.”

The minute his connection to the magic faded, he pulled his hands away. Dante was grinning.

“I know there will be a trick again. There’s alwayss a trick. Sorry – choice,” he sneered. “A posssibility of failure. But this time I won’t be caught off guard.” He noticed Virgil’s glare and sighed. “I know, I know, that was rude. I’d say I’m ssorry, but well. I’m not. But I did mean it when I said I won’t bother you anymore. Not unless you want me to.” He winked, and walked out of the alley, humming to himself as he lit another cigarette.

Virgil rubbed his hands against his hoodie, wishing the feeling of complicity could be scraped off. Yes, there was breathing room hidden in how similar-sounding ‘prints’ was to ‘Prince,’ but his heart was still sinking in his chest. Now that he knew Dante’s full design, and had given him a warning, albeit obscure…  Mother Shipton, he was going to have to tell Roman. Wasn’t he?

author note: hey look, more homophone jokes! it’s almost like that was the secret motivation for this entire story and it… got away from me.

there is ART OF THIS SCENE now, thanks to @residentanchor and I am blushing REAL HARD

[myhumaninteractionsafterall]

These are some notes I wanted to keep after reading the above book, which is very good if you are into Cage. My only complaint is that 75 pages is not enough, and it is now 4 years old and needs a companion volume. 

What follows is an annotated timeline of Cage’s films circa January 2019.

Any italicized quotes are from the above book.

Followed Method Acting Style

1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High

1983 Valley Girl

1983 Rumble Fish

1984 Racing with the Moon

1984 The Cotton Club

1984 Birdy

1986 The Boy in Blue

Developed Abstract Method Style (Surrealist or ”Counter-Critcial”)

1986 Peggy Sue Got Married

1987 Raising Arizona

1987 Moonstruck [directed to use Operatic approach]

Developed Western Kabuki Style

“Kabuki performers wear makeup to exaggerate their features, and male Kabuki dancing is more like a series of elaborate poses that establish character than a dance.”

1989 Vampire's Kiss

“[In Vampire’s Kiss Cage] combines opera and silent film-style acting, using exaggerated movement and emotions to create characters that keep audiences guessing.”

1989 Never on Tuesday

1989 Time to Kill

“After filming [...] Time To Kill (1989) in Zimbabwe, he noticed that the local people would gather to watch Charles Bronson movies. He knew then that action films would be the genre that would deliver him to new audiences.”

*Son Weston born in 1990*

1990 Fire Birds

1990 Wild at Heart

“[In Wild at Heart Cage] used Andy Warhol’s duplicates as inspiration and played Sailor as Elvis.”

1991 Zandalee

“Cage was inspired to move not more lighthearted fare [his self-named Sunshine Trilogy] by his grandmother and Jim Morrison. [...] he was intrigued by Jim Morrison’s desire to make a song that 'conveyed pure happiness’.”

1992 Honeymoon in Vegas [Part of Sunshine trilogy]

1993 Amos & Andrew

1993 Deadfall

1993 Red Rock West [cited as naturalistic/realism]

1994 Guarding Tess [Part of Sunshine trilogy]

1994 It Could Happen to You [Part of Sunshine trilogy]

1994 Trapped in Paradise

1995 Kiss of Death

*Turned down Jeff Bridges’ role in Dumb and Dumber for Leaving Las Vegas*

1995 Leaving Las Vegas [cited as based on a person “heightened version of reality”]

1996 The Rock

1997 Con Air

1997 Face/Off

1998 City of Angels

1998 Snake Eyes

1999 8mm

1999 Bringing Out the Dead [cited as naturalistic/realism]

2000 Gone in 60 Seconds

2000 The Family Man

2001 Captain Corelli's Mandolin

2001 Christmas Carol: The Movie

2002 Windtalkers

2002 Adaptation [cited as based on a person “heightened version of reality”]

2002 Sonny

2003 Matchstick Men

2004 National Treasure

*Son Kal-El born in 2005*

2005 Lord of War

2005 The Weather Man

2006 The Ant Bully

2006 World Trade Center

2006 The Wicker Man

2007 Ghost Rider

2007 Grindhouse Segment: Werewolf Women of the SS

2007 Next

2007 National Treasure: Book of Secrets

2008 Bangkok Dangerous

2009 Knowing

2009 G-Force

2009 Astro Boy

2009 Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

2010 Kick-Ass

2010 The Sorcerer's Apprentice

2011 Season of the Witch

2011 Drive Angry

2011 Trespass

2011 Seeking Justice

Developed Nouveau Shamanic Style

2012 Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

2012 Stolen

2013 The Croods

2013 The Frozen Ground

2014 Joe [cited as naturalistic/realism]

2014 Rage

2014 Left Behind

2014 Dying of the Light

2015 Outcast

Films released after this book’s 2015 publication date

2015 The Runner

2015 Pay the Ghost

2016 The Trust

2016 Snowden

2016 USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage

2016 Dog Eat Dog

2016 Army of One

2017 Arsenal

2017 Vengeance: A Love Story

2017 Inconceivable

2018 Mom and Dad

2018 Looking Glass

2018 The Humanity Bureau

2018 211

2018 Teen Titans Go! To the Movies

2018 Mandy

2018 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

2019 A Score to Settle

2019 Kill Chain

2019 Grand Isle

2019 The Color out of Space

2019 Prisoners of the Ghostland

2020 The Croods 2

2018 Between Worlds

2019 Running with the Devil

2019 Primal

[defconprime]

TREKMATCH! # 81 - Starship Exter's "The Tressaurian Intersection" vs. 2001's Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE Harry Potter, an abused child living under his Aunt and Uncle's stairs, discovers he's actually a wizard boy and gets to go off to wizard boarding school where he eats vomit candy and talks to headless ghosts and plays a game where he is suspended on a small stick hundreds of feet in the air. Yikes, might've been safer staying with the Dursley's, pal! He also makes friends and isn't forced to cook for his spoiled cousin, so maybe it's not all bad. GRADE: A- STARSHIP EXETER - "The Tressaurian Intersection" Ok, I left some of the better fan films on my randomizer list. This one follows the USS Exeter as it tries to figure out who was responsible for crashing the USS Kongo onto a planet. As you coulda guessed from the title, it was those notorious Star Trek villains the Tressaurians! Wait, who? GRADE: C- Victory to Harry Potter, putting movies up 41-40!

[fathersappointed]

The board man cometh Kim is a very dedicated pitchman!

Do you think if I told Kim he was being deceived, he would believe me, Kim, you’re being deceived nope that, didn’t work?

Today he’s talking about his favorite demonic scientist. Elon Musk.

Is Elon a benevolent Super-mind Or the egotistical maniac Khan you task me, Khan!

Elon, they think you’re a bad seed. A bad seed demon spawned. I’m looking at some of your pictures I don’t know?

He says the Devil wants your spaceships!

Captain Kirk of the USS Enterprise once asked God why does God need a spaceship? When God said I will use your ship to spread my greatness.

Why would the Devil need spaceships?

There’s a lot of reasons, but if you going by the story, how long are you going to fare against God with spaceships that can barely get to the moon. And what are you going to do with a rocket that can go to Mars carry a grenade with you? This is almost as bad as a situation we face with the Devil/Christ. The Devil and Chris want those ships for another reason whose details require a later post.

Don’t worry the Devil doesn’t want your spaceship. He’s got one he likes better!

Your spaceship is kind of like a rowboat to their Symphony of the Seas.

As I’ve, said we are an illimitable existence! And that’s not it’s ship!

The Devil compromises members of this ship. We are not infinite awareness stuck on a computer chip we are unfortunate victims. Caught in some kind of Syfy Twilight Zone horror flick, playing out a no-win scenario! I don’t believe in the no-win scenario they’re presenting this as. I’ll admit this is a tough situation the smartest guy on the planet is an idiot. He’d be hard-pressed to figure out what to do?

I need a good rowboat. You know; One that won’t crap out when I’m in space! One that won’t Blow Me To Pieces as soon as I take off! One that is not connected to your scummy boss’s computers. I need a good rowboat! One that’s big enough for me and maybe (if they can be brave enough,) three of my friends? I need a good rowboat!

God, if only you could see it. God is a group of cold-blooded grossness that needs to be ripped to shreds.

We may be doomed even if you headcases figure it out, but we will definitely be doomed if you don’t.

Nobody can hear me when I shout, Look out! Danger!

It seems I face The Impossible?

He brings up how much money this man has or will have in the future. It matters not to the Devil. The Devil will make you the wealthiest man in the World. The Devil would make you a God of the world if he had the power the Devil cares nothing about that? The Devil wants to kill, Our Father.

We are an illimitable existence of time, and we are under attack!

Now if you would kindly Wake Up to the horror that we face!

Look, it comes down to this if there’s a way they think they’ve fixed it.

There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer.

We still have a long way to go and we still need to flush the world’s governments…Into the septic system. if we don’t we’re stuck with s*** and all hope is lost! Don’t get all your feathers in a flutter there have, to be some good ones in the bunch. This is a little bit bigger than your bureaucratic brunch! All of it will have to be flushed.

You’ll understand when you figure it out.

You bow down before the god of exorbitant mesmeric extraneous exoticism now. In other words, You are becoming extremely egotistical selfishly stuffing your face in a grandiose self gluttonous odyssey before anybody else gets it. And going mentally corrupt by having too many people offer to wipe your ass. And you’re starting to believe your own propaganda you’ve almost lost who, You Are. I think with some work you might get it back? I shan’t waste a drop of my precious time with scumbags. I know well the thoughts within, a man they come from a source of absolute scum. We face an Evil, focus in a jealous consuming hate! I walk into a new hell they are the scum of the world. And I know well how they think. From the bowels, I reach into the filth.

You asked why I rant this way the ones I speak to hear in no other way.

To them they are insulted to me I am pained I have faced an evil group now I have to deal with their monumental egos. They are obsessively egotistical self-centered. And I believe one of the designs of that besides destroying the world is to slow me down and wear me out. They have built an Immense wall of scummy egotistical powerful People that are actually stupider than dirt and have even less honor around me! And I have to break through somehow in order to stop this evil group. So yes, I am pained.

And there you were thinking Tumblr was just for trash TV.

I know who I am, I’m Our Father’s Appointed I am for this show The King of Sin. My banner says Anti-God because I’m going for the head of the snake. Try to understand you’ve been played you’ve been one of their favorite puppets. From the beginning, everything you’ve been experiencing has been an orchestrated lie it's clobbering time! See the true Horror for the first time for what it truly is! I just want to mention one thing they’re laughing, and I’m running out of time. 

 How many billionaires how many multi-millionaires living in gluttonous greed? Sitting there with your inflated Pride I did it! You sit with gleaming eyes as you watch the multitude you treat as worms beg for your crumbs! I am disgusted by all of you and your trinket world. You sit in your glitter thinking that you are the all when what you are is the scummiest sum that walks the Earth. And that’s what I’ve got to fight with. You think this is demented but that’s because you’re Clueless in assholes “vill” I don’t like having to have to work with stuck-up scumbags. Understand I’m not saying a person creating jobs or something that benefits mankind shouldn’t receive compensation. I’m speaking to the sickening boastfulness gluttony that overbearing permeates existence. You can deduce what you like with that I don’t really give a s*** Don’t get your feathers in a ruffle like the government and Generals there’s got to be a few that are not garbage. I’m sure that’s you. I just got to stop thinking about a big oozing pus sac that’s on the face of the world. They’ll Attack your mind (they already speak)as soon as you see. You don’t understand yet but they’re always watching you. Yes even while you sleep so that you know. They think in absolute this is their time, but I think it’s time to f**** their world up.

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

USS Sorcerer (NCC-9670-B), Arlington-class long-range fast dreadnought:

(Arlington-class reference art via @MarcSherwood8 on Twitter)

The Arlington-class dreadnought USS Sorcerer (NCC-9670-B) started her life as an Odyssey-class dreadnought, one of the sister ships of the USS Enterprise-F. Like her famous sister, the Sorcerer was heavily damaged in the 2411 Battle of Midnight, the climactic battle of the Iconian War, fought above Earth. The Sorcerer lay in spacedock above Mars for several years as subsequent events redirected Federation shipbuilding towards new endeavors. Finally beginning reconstruction in 2412, she saw several planned refit suggestions come and go - first, she was to be rebuilt to Odyssey-class standard, then to the upgraded Yorktown-class refit, then the upgunned Lexington-class subclass of the Yorktown-class. Finally, in 2414, it was decided that the Sorcerer would become the second in the newly designed Arlington-class of long-range fast-response dreadnoughts, to spearhead a new Federation effort to explore the Gamma Quadrant alongside the Federation's allies in the Klingon Empire, Romulan Republic, Tzenkethi Coalition, and the newly peaceful Dominion, as well as follow up on issues related to the Hur'q Crisis of 2411. Under the command of Captain Yanute, the vessel was relaunched on January 1, 2416, the 5th anniversary of the Battle of Midnight.

The Arlington-class long-range fast dreadnought:

As a descendant of the Odyssey-class, the Arlington is one of the largest ships ever built by the Federation; the subclass measures 1041.5 meters long, 385.22 meters at the beam, with a draught of over 200 meters, and a mass of over 7.25 million metric tons. With a crew of over 900, space for a full Starfleet Marine Corps battalion of 800+ members, and an embarked air wing of 400 personnel, the immense long-range vessel is thusly provided with a laundry list of amenities ranging from an internal promenade/mall, a dozen holodecks, two arboretums, two internal pool/sauna complexes, three main social lounges, and dozens of observation areas.

Able to maintain quantum slipstream travel for a full six hours, the Arlington-class combines its impressive speed with some of the heaviest firepower ever added to a Federation vessel. Boasting 29 MkXV phaser arrays, 4 light and 4 heavy MkXV pulsed phaser cannons, and a whopping 14 multipurpose torpedo/probe launch tubes. These tubes are capable of fully automated loading of the full Federation probe range, as well as photon, quantum, and transphasic torpedoes, the latter-most only available in limited quantities due to weapons limitation treaties.

In addition, the Arlington-class carries over the Lexington-class's phaser spinal lance, capable of devastating damage against vessels even larger than the Arlington. The phaser lance has been colloquially nicknamed the "Wave Motion Gun" by Lexington- and Arlington-class crew members, as it's immense energy discharge resembles that of a similarly devastating weapon from a late 20th century Earth science fiction franchise.

The Arlington also plays host and mother ship to an Eagle-class light "parasite" escort, itself a formidable and agile vessel, armed with multiple phaser arrays, four phaser cannons, and four torpedo tubes. A full wing of 60 Federation Aerospace Force Valkyrie aerospace fighters, falling under the command of the vessels' Commander Air Group, rounds out the vessels' firepower.

Defenses consist of a quadruple-layer hyper-capacitor-based metaphasic shield array, a full meter of albative armor, and a full suite of phaser- and microtorpedo-based CIWS systems; the Arlington is also fitted for but not with a Nanotech Molecular Ablative Generator field array, based on technology from an alternate 25th century.

[hermanwatts]

Fantasy New Releases: 22 June, 2019

Finales and debuts, steampunk and litRPG gamerpunk, dungeon lords and adventurous raiders, and the return of the Destroyermen feature in this week’s fantasy new releases.

Bloodwood Forest – Jeremy Fabiano and Cadeen Fabiano

A deadly curse. A life hanging in the balance. One girl holds the key.

Catherine knows one thing: She needs to get stronger. Much stronger.

But is the adventurer’s guild training enough?

When a deadly curse leaves her mother’s life hanging in the balance, Catherine makes a vow to save her.

To keep her promise, she must journey through a mysterious and deadly forest full of hostile spirits and many other dangers.

She has her father’s former adventuring party by her side. But can they teach her to defeat the evil sorcerer sapping her mother’s life force away?

Chainworld (Quantum Assassin #1) – Matt Langley and Paul Ebbs

How do you escape an enemy who can follow you everywhere and everywhen?

Shryke knows you can’t, yet still he runs for his life. There are horrors buried deep in his memory that have been locked away from him by some secret magic. All he knows is that he is the Quantum Assassin, and he stands alone against the end of everything – the lone warrior in a war he can’t hope to win.

The God-Queen’s hunger for destruction will only be sated by the end of Chainworld, a series of impossible constructs held together by science so advanced the inhabitants mistake it for magic. Shryke and those he meets along the way must complete his memory so he can stand against her; otherwise, the Chainworld will be shattered and life as they know it will cease to be.

Everflame: Mystic Wind – Dylan Lee Peters

My name is ARTHUR KAGE and I have a secret: I spent a month in the forbidden forest the other survivors call the NULLWOOD.

ANNA says the Nullwood appeared the night the skies fell, the night we call the Demise. Anna uses a wheelchair, but she’s the strongest person I’ve ever met. She has a secret, too; a friend who is a fox but… is so much more. I help her keep her secret, and she helps me keep mine. The other survivors would kill me if they knew I had been in the Nullwood. Monsters come out of there. Everyone is afraid of that black forest, and fear makes people dangerous

I don’t have many memories of the Demise, except it’s the last I saw my mother. I can’t remember being in the Nullwood either, except for what I see when I dream. In dreams, I see a shadow bear amid the gnarled black trees, and I see a mysterious flame. I don’t know what any of it means but…

I have to find my mother.

I have to go back into the Nullwood.

Evolution (Djinn-Tamer: Bronze League #3) – Derek Alan Siddoway and A. J. Cerna

It’s time to crown a champion. It’s time to evolve.

Jackson Hunt has spent countless hours training his team of monsters and battling rivals as an up and coming Djinn Tamer. All his hard work, the stunning wins, and heartbreaking losses lead to one place: the league playoffs.

But what got Jackson where he is won’t be enough to take him to the top.

As the season draws to a close, Jackson and his friends find themselves far away from the stadiums and crowds, searching for a means to take his Djinn to the next level. The strength he seeks lies in a remote, untamed corner of the world, where myth and legend walk hand in hand.

Competition for the championship will be fierce and the dangers of the wild are only the beginning. Is Jackson ready for the biggest battle of his young career?

Skills will be tested, new powers unleashed. Victory won’t come without a cost.

Forger of Worlds – Simon Archer

Craft your own World. Trade with neighboring Empires. Become a God.

Garrett thought Terra Forma was just a game, but in reality, it was a test created by a devastatingly beautiful ancient goddess to find the most creative man in the universe.

Now, in order to help her defeat an ancient primordial deity, Garrett will have to take a dirt rock and transform it into the heart of the most powerful empire the universe has ever seen.

And to do that, he’ll have to unlock portals to other worlds, harvest their resources, and bring back settlers to his world.

Sure, it’s a nearly impossible task, but at the same time, how often do you get the chance to play god?

The King’s Regret (The Falconbone Chronicles #1) – Philip Ligon

Jason is not a child anymore.

He hasn’t been a child since the King betrayed his family, killing his mother and all his friends in a terrible surprise attack against his home.

He is not a child anymore, but everyone still treats him like he is. His father, his uncle, his sister. And especially Nanny Grace. Jason knows he can help. But he’s stuck washing dishes, tucked away and protected as the heir to the Falconbone family. All he can do is dream of the day when he finishes his ship, The King’s Regret, and flies it to the capital to avenge his family.

When Father flies away to search for allies, a saboteur wrecks havoc on their refuge. Jason is determined to find the traitor, to prove that he can be useful. The last thing he expects is to find his family’s oldest enemy lurking in the shadows of their mountain hideaway.

And for that man to be his only hope for bringing his Father home alive.

Pass of Fire (Destroyermen #14) – Taylor Anderson

After being transported to a strange alternate Earth, Matt Reddy and the crew of the USS Walker have learned desperate times call for desperate measures, in the return to the New York Times bestselling Destroyermen series.

Time is running out for the Grand Human and Lemurian Alliance. The longer they take to prepare for their confrontations with the reptilian Grik, the Holy Dominion, and the League of Tripoli, the stronger their enemies become. Ready or not, they have to move–or the price in blood will break them.

Matt Reddy and his battered old destroyer USS Walker lead the greatest army the humans and their Lemurian allies have ever assembled up the Zambezi toward the ancient Grik capital city. Standing against them is the largest, most dangerous force of Grik yet gathered.

On the far side of the world, General Shinya and his Army of the Sisters are finally prepared for their long-expected assault on the mysterious El Paso del Fuego. Not only is the dreaded Dominion ready and waiting for them; they’ve formed closer, more sinister ties with the fascist League of Tripoli.

Everything is on the line in both complex, grueling campaigns, and the Grand Alliance is stretched to its breaking point. Victory is the only option, whatever the cost, because there can be no second chances.

A Sellsword’s Hope (Seven Virtues #7) – Jacob Peppers

Grinner and his conspiracy to overthrow Perennia have been defeated, but victory came at a high cost. The alliance suffered losses it could ill afford, for the true enemy still lies in Baresh, growing stronger with each day that passes.

Leading the combined armies of three kingdoms, Aaron and his companions march to the city, but even with such a force, even with the power of the Virtues, victory is anything but assured.

For when blades are drawn, when battle begins, the only certainty is blood.

Aaron knows this, just as he knows the terrible odds he faces. Yet, he is not alone. His allies march with him—creatures out of myth and legend, cut-throats and thieves, sailors and smugglers, and the mysterious Akalians who have finally chosen to step out of the shadows and into the light.

But the ancient mage has allies of his own, creatures endowed with speed and strength greater than any man, bereft of any human feeling, including pain. But there is strength in emotion, a power that even the thousand-year-old mage, even creatures out of legend, cannot stand against.

For with emotion comes valor and courage, honor and duty.

With emotion comes hope.

Troll Nation (Rogue Dungeon #3) – James Hunter and eden Hudson

Build. Evolve. Conquer. The dawn of the Troll Nation has begun …

Roark von Graf—former noble and hedge-mage, current mid-level mob in a MMORPG—has taken down the Dungeon Lord of the Cruel Citadel, but the battle has only started.

Lowen, right hand to the Tyrant King, has come to Hearthworld, and he is building an army of his own. Worse, Lowen and company have taken over one of the most powerful dungeons in the game, The Vault of the Radiant Shield. Even as a Jotnar and a newly minted Dungeon Lord, Roark is supremely outclassed and he bloody well knows it. If he’s going to weather what’s to come and topple the Tyrant King, he’ll have to unlock the secrets of the stolen World Stone Pendant, master his new Hexorcist class, form some very unlikely allies, and most important … Grief some heroes. Let the games begin!

Seven Fold Sword: Sovereign (Seven Fold Sword #12) – Jonathan Moeller

The quest of the Seven Swords has been a trap all along.

For the dark elven tyrant known as the Sovereign will use the power of the Swords to ascend to godhood and enslave the world for all time.

And only Ridmark Arban stands in his way…

Fantasy New Releases: 22 June, 2019 published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

Commander Deryn Antak Shol Kree - A Pahkwa-Thanh member of Starfleet Intelligence, CMDR Kree's service record is highly classified, up until the year 2392. What little records that are publicly available state he joined Starfleet Intelligence after graduating the Academy at the rank of Lieutenant in 2376, and was promoted to the rank of Commander within four years. A note in his file mentions he was given Special Access Program ACTIVE DANCER clearance a year into his Intelligence service, after which his record goes entirely dark until 2392, where he is noted as receiving Special Access Program FIRE HALO clearance. He has served as the Starfleet Intelligence Officer-On-Board (SFI-OOB) for the USS Sorcerer since her original commissioning.

What Federation publicly available records do not show is that Commander Kree's ACTIVE DANCER clearance is in fact a reference to his being recruited into Starfleet Intelligence's Studies and Operations Group, a formerly acknowledged, now officially non-existent organization known by many names over the centuries of its operation, including the Mission Analysis Activity, Mission Capability Program, Joint Intelligence Access Group, Office of Intelligence Support, Intelligence Research Concepts Team, Section 85, Section 31, Forward Intelligence Section, Joint Evaluation Group, and others. The unit has also been known under dozens of SAP codenames, including as ACTIVE DANCER, ZANY SPIKE, NEBULA GRANTOR, QUIET KITCHEN, LAST AZURE, PARK LEVEL, SNAKE HOUSE, RED DRAGON, ARCTIC JUICE, OPTIMIZE HAZE, and many others. Rogue members of this unit attempted a coup against the Federation civilian government in 2391, which was stopped due to the actions of various loyal officers within its ranks, including both CMDR Kree and the units current commanding officer, ADM Shiboline M'Ress.

Reformed as a direct division of Starfleet Intelligence in the wake of the attempted coup, the core of the SOG consisted of those officers who helped bring down the conspirators and remained loyal to the Federation. Now a specialized SAPINT (SAPient INTelligence; a term that replaced the anthropocentric HUMINT in the early 22nd century), special reconnaissance, and research & development section, it is a much smaller organization, though it maintains a small fleet of specially modified vessels to support its operations, the most notable of which being ADM M'Ress' flagship, the USS Dreadnought (IX-2300).

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

Well... here goes nothing. My first ever AO3 fic. Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Star Trek, Star Trek Online Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: All OCs Additional Tags: Canon Divergence, Drama Summary:

It was, by all accounts the crew could access, a perfectly ordinary day on planet Earth.

The shuttle crash was unexpected, but everyone was relieved. At least the senior staff had come down in a sparsely populated area! Of course, it was only after the communication disruption occurred that a human crew-member took a horrified look at the actual date.

By that point, the USS Sorcerer and her crew could only orbit on the far side of the Moon, and wait, and hope. And pray…

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

Colonel Liasa D'Argan (to the left in reference photo) - the commanding officer of the USS Sorcerer's embarked Starfleet Marine Corps battalion, 2d Battalion, 5th Marines, which traces its lineage and traditions to the United States Marine Corps, which supplied troops to the United Earth Starfleet as part of it's MACO initiative.

A sister unit to the original 2d Battalion, 5th Marines of the USMC (which still exists on Earth, as part of the United States armed forces, which sits under United Earth command via the United Nations), 2/5 is a veteran unit, having fought in the 2256 Klingon War, Cardassian Wars, Tzenkethi War, and the Dominion War, embodying their "Retreat, hell!" motto, borrowed from their terrestrial forebears.

A Dominion War veteran, the 62-year old Colonel Liasa is a member of the towering mammalian Jeselian species, standing over 9 feet tall, and projecting an air of command and decorum larger even than her size. Often commanding her troops from the frontline, swathed in standard issue SFMC powered armor, the Colonel also supplies her Marines for the traditional duties of protecting shore parties, VBSS duties, and assisting in shipboard gunnery (a section of 2/5 Marines is normally assigned to starboard Phaser Control Room #5 during space combat).

Colonel D'Argan has been married for 40 years to the Sorcerer's Chief Medical Officer, the Caitian CMDR Dr. Ny'Kara; the couple has nineteen children (twelve Caitian, six Jeselian, and one Jeselian-Caitian hybrid, the latter via an experimental version of the Phlox-Wilder hybrid fertilization method).