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[Nivim]

 It seems I've just been near-subconsciously ignoring any mechanical errors and focusing entirely on in-world strangeness; mostly, that the nature spirit seemed to do a lot of things that are quite unnatural, and more fitting of some life-warping mage. The most blaring of these was making the bat-woman ageless; anathema to the ever-cycling and moving process of natural life. If the spirit of fecundity wanted an eternal, intelligent servant, it would create a family of these creatures; an entity that has children, evolves, and lĭves lives.
 Also, isn't every side story given with the implicite promise that it will connect to the main story? There are a lot of books that start with multiple seemingly completely unrelated stories but brings them all together in the end.

[SirHoneyBadger]

You absolutely have a point about that, Nivm, and should keep it in mind for future reference.

 

I also feel fairly strongly about the concept of promising, and while you make a good statement on the general idea of an author-reader relationship, I don't want anyone to get the idea that I necessarily promise anything.

Read free, but read at your own risk.


I also wouldn't normally do too much revealing, but I'm still indulging in world-building, so some exposition might be useful:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The Spirits are a bit beyond the cycle of life, themselves. They're immortal, and immaterial, and don't breed in the same way as truly living beings do. You can think of them as guardians of the cycle of life, but they definitely hold and use the keys to that cycle, and they can and do go beyond the limits of that cycle to serve what they consider to be their "higher purposes".

Also, they're not the same thing as gods: They're not tied to any cause, idea, or justice system not their own, and of their own making and policing, and they don't have a morality that we would entirely recognise, let alone entirely recognise as "good". They hate undeath and stagnation, but they have an agenda--and sometimes a Spirit will have an agenda that's unique to itself--and they don't necessarily mind bending and warping the life cycle, to suit their purposes. They just don't want to see it broken.

I wouldn't get the idea that they're not very altruistic beings...certainly, they're some of the most influential "good guys" of this world, for some certain, and important, values of "good", but you also shouldn't get the idea that a Spirit wouldn't do something that you and I, as living, sentient, moral beings, wouldn't understand, agree with, see the point of, etc. They're alien and Other, and they could and would, very easily, turn you into something alien and Other, without any prior consultation, or strong possibility of reprisal, and then use you for the same purpose, and with the same consideration, you would use a crowbar. 

They have a concept of friendship and cooperation. They apply that concept to other Spirits, and possibly a few other beings of a comparable order, but not to props.

And not typically to gods, either, whom they mostly still consider to be "tools", if of another definition...

Also, while this singular bat-woman won't die of "natural" causes, she's very much not undead, and could still die from a great many of the things that would kill another living being, depending on the living being you have in mind. 

As for further speculation: Feel free, but this is only part 1, and please be advised: I will freely steal any ideas you present here, and then turn them into something alien and Other, again without prior consultation, or strong possibility of reprisal.

Such is the nature of this thread.

 

[SirHoneyBadger]

By the way, I'm going to be doing a few (minor!) rewrites, based on the world-building I've been doing behind the scenes.

To give you an example: I've decided that humans don't exist, and have never existed on this world, in these stories, so I'm going to change the (fairly meager) references to them. Humans, it should be noted, were originally going to be extinct by the time of the main story, anyhow, so it won't be much of a factor.

[Heron TSG]

Ooh, nonhuman world. Neat-o-rama indeed.

[Cheveux]

I just read through all of the story in one sitting and it's truly amazing! The style of writing and the attention to details are also fantastic. I really need to follow this thread closely.

Also, are you still taking characters requests?

[SirHoneyBadger]

Ooh, nonhuman world. Neat-o-rama indeed.

I figure we all know what it's like to be a human, and how that goes, so I'd like to explore slightly more alien themes and viewpoints.
 
And yes, I'd still love to have any character submissions.

[SirHoneyBadger]

Alright, I modified Shal'e'ish's Story (above) to remove the reference to humans. I replaced the human prisoner with a goblin, instead.

More to come (hopefully soonish?)...

[SirHoneyBadger]

I'm around, but I'm working on my mod... I've got lots of ideas for the story that I'd like to get down and post, but lately my writing is just less and less centered. I'm hoping that working out some of my nitpicky ideas and desires, as pertains to DF, will help bring the Artifact storyline back into focus for me.

I keep trying to get the right words to come out, and they keep refusing, and hiding further into the cobwebs of my brain... And then the wrong words and off words dance themselves so easily and mockingly into the light.

It's not hard to write. It's just hard to write, and know satisfaction.

In the meantime, just so I don't go much more crazy than I am, I may possibly work on some other, different, writing. If I do, I'll try to post it, and you can all boo and hiss to your various hearts' (I tell myself there must still be atleast 2 or so of you out there) contentednessessessessess.

[Heron TSG]

Your writing is so good that the only people who will be hissing are people who are half-snake and don't have human vocal cords!

[JDF117]

  I just chanced upon this while trawling through the forum, and immediately read the entire thing. The descriptions are exquisite, and the sprawling narrative gives the feel of great breadth and depth to both the world and the characters housed within.

  I try to come up with a criticism of the writing itself, but can think of little. The work flows in thought and varies in both sentence structure and word use. The plot itself is a little overextended, but it is never enough to actually lose interest. If I were you I would try to find some way to fit the exposition and sub-plots as seamlessly as possible into the main plot, although that seems difficult to do with any degree of subtlety with some plots. (I.E. no dwarf would know about a Spirit in a sealed cave sitting for a millenium gradually carving a complex and self-sufficient ecosystem with the purpose of trapping the poison of a clutch of dragon eggs)

  In short, I love it and would actually save a completed version to my ipad and read it a few times. It is novel-quality writing.

[Nivim]

[...]

If the other parts of your mind want to write things less and less centered, perhaps you should oblige them a bit, and speed up the process until there is no center. At that point, you can simply simply say "here" on your universe, and then your writing is perfectly centered again.

 Writer's block is generally when one of the miniminds that doesn't talk decides it dislikes what's being done.

[Hazael]

You, SirHoneyBadger, have succeded in making me jealous of my little story of Lagdon compared to the sheer awesomeness of your story. 

In all seriousness though, I do bid you good luck on your next mod! Hope you also can find enough time to continue the story!