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[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Serbis Combat Magics- Volume 1: The Break Down
Author: Anonymous Battle Mage

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Hello reader and welcome to the first volume of three that will be teaching you about the magic used by Serbis military units in the field. There are other fields of magic used by Serbis militants but these three volumes will be covering the combat based magics.

We will start with separating the main fields of combat magic that combatants in the Serbis military learn. Most will only learn one of these fields, some will learn two, but none learn three as those capable of that are sent to one of the colleges that specializes in the combination of three fields that they excel in to perfect their skills and join a more elite unit than the basic Serbis combatant.

(The magic fields listed below are separated by how common they are in Serbis military units)

Wind-
Wind is the most common magic field used in the military. This is not because of its usefulness but because of its ease of training and most people's natural ability towards it. Wind can be used to hold enemies back or even throw them down to the ground.........

Fire-
Fire is another almost equally common magic field but unlike wind the military has found many a use for fire magics. Fire magic can be used from lighting enemies on fire to burning their supplies to field repairing weapons. Fire magic has a wide variety of uses.......

Ice-
Ice is an uncommon magical skill mostly used by the Ice Elf recruits from the north eastern corner of the island. Ice has a good amount of uses for special forces and in the field. While it's not very useful for live combat with large formations of troops it can be used to sabotage enemy supplies and water sources.........

Energy-
Very few recruits can use energy magic but those who can are labeled as some of the most important in combat units. Many do not know what this field of magic is because of its rarity. Energy magic is used to shock enemies with bolts of lighting. This magic is very commonly used in swamp lands where the water in the ground and air amplifies the users powers.......

.......................
((These are just excerpts from each section and not the whole volume of the book. Thought this would be good writing practice and help with making lore in my game))

On the Origin of the Cat People
Author:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Through many studies in the well acclaimed Serbis laboratories I have spent the last eight months of my life studying the cat people of the Northern continent. I studied their genetic make up as well as their physical features......

Their genetics seem to be the most eccentric from the human standard. The genes that would normally code for body hair, finger nails, and the spine were different from the human standard. There seemed to be more genes used for not only extending the spine into a long tail but also to form special muscles in the tail thought to be used for balance. The genes that would normal create fingernails and hair were either chopped up with only certain parts of the genes in use or not there at all. I found that some genes that might be what code for the claws and thick body hair/fur that is found on the cat people.......

After performing autopsies on several different deceased cat people I have found that their internal organ system is not different from the human standard except for size of certain organs though this may be from improper storage when the bodies were transported to the laboratory. Their brains seem to have a larger sensory system possibly suited for creating better seeing eyes and a more powerful nose. Their fur seems to be genetically similar to the wild cats of the Northern continent.......

In conclusion I believe that at some point along the line the cat people came about when tribes of humans had interbred with wild animal species proving the long standing racial remarks of many elves that these cat people are of wild, crazy, and disgusting origins. This species of human is one that has long confused and enraged the scientific community for ages.......

((this is a study performed by a racist, lieing, crackpot elf trying to prove that the khajjit are a lower species of human by false studies.))

Some book excerpts from one of my games, just felt like writing it for practice.

[technicallyAdventurer]

Can anyone suggest a prompt? In my Agriculture class, we have to write a story about a plant-less society and how it would work out. The rules were pretty freeform, too; we can basically make animals that are able to derive the oxygen molecules from vaporized H²O. I think it'd be interesting to see what other people can come up with, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to suggest prompts 'for the bored' or anything.

[GiglameshDespair]

Can anyone suggest a prompt? In my Agriculture class, we have to write a story about a plant-less society and how it would work out. The rules were pretty freeform, too; we can basically make animals that are able to derive the oxygen molecules from vaporized H²O. I think it'd be interesting to see what other people can come up with, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to suggest prompts 'for the bored' or anything.

Well, you could have manmade structures - oxygen reactors - with life clustered around each one. Or people have to keep their dogs (or whatever) close when they head outside, since the air is deoxygenated.

Plenty of interesting stuff to write there.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

I could come up with ideas for animals and such but not a story.
Plant less society ideas

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Nano bots or bacteria that live in living creatures that break down the CO2 they breath in into oxygen they can use, would be like the bacteria in your stomachs but instead in your lungs to break down air into usable oxygen.

The planet is coated in solar panels that power machines that convert seawater and polluted air into refined sugar and breathable air, each city has local sugar banks that can be withdrawn from for needs from fuel to food. Maybe produce different kinds of sugars depending on the model of machine.

Living animals have evolved into having gill like organs in their throats that break down CO2 into oxygen and carbon monoxide, no wait that would kill you nevermind

Might think of a few more

[bahihs]

Can anyone suggest a prompt? In my Agriculture class, we have to write a story about a plant-less society and how it would work out. The rules were pretty freeform, too; we can basically make animals that are able to derive the oxygen molecules from vaporized H²O. I think it'd be interesting to see what other people can come up with, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to suggest prompts 'for the bored' or anything.

Well, I assume by "plants" you mean all photosynthetic organisms? If that were the case then the animals would need to use some sort of photosynthetic mechanism to get oxygen from water (only way to split water is through electrolysis or in biological systems, photolysis). You cannot however simply obtain O2 from "vaporized H2O" (i.e water vapor).

This is pretty cool, I'll take a crack at it a little later. And as far as I can tell, there are few rules to this thread so I think you can absolutely suggest prompts (in fact I think several users a few posts back did so themselves).

[technicallyAdventurer]

"You cannot however simply obtain O2 from "vaporized H2O" (i.e water vapor)." That is exactly what I told the teacher, but apparently kids can get away with that. Also, sorry for using that term instead of simply using 'water vapor'. I have the tendency to use flowery writing and rephrase things that don't need to be rephrased.

[GiglameshDespair]

Spoiler: The Trees Sing Different Songs, Now (click to show/hide)

I meet her in the forest. The slender silver stalks reach skyward, blossoming into solar panels and a spiralling wind turbine. The dry earth was hard under my feet, the wind harsh through the thin fabrics of my clothes. My rebreather clicks as it processes poison into air.
"You don't need that, you know. Not here."
Her voice seems to ring out from nowhere before she slides down a featureless stalk. Her rebreather is off, her short hair tousled where the straps had been. I frown behind my layer of protective plastic.
"You know CogNet suggests wearing masks at all times outside, right?"
"Pah!" She exclaims dismissively, waving one slender, dark hand airily. "That hunk of silicon thinks we're babies. It's fine here in the forest. 'S what it's for, even."
"Fine," I grumble, pulling my mask off. "But not too long, alright?" I breath in a gulp of air unprocessed by the mask and look at my companion. She smiles her impish grin at me.
"I promise," she says easily. "You know me."
"Far too well," I mutter, smiling back despite myself, and her playful tackle is a old ritual at this point. I allow her to wrestle me to the ground, laughter bubbling from us, and we lie back and listen to the whispering somg of the trees.

"You know," she murmurs, tone suddenly thoughtful, "The trees our parents listened to like this were different. The ones our children listen to will be the same as our ancestors. But these trees... they only sing for us."

I make a sound of agreement, and she rests her head on my chest. Beneath my hands, folded beneath my head, the soil swarms with billions of tiny bacteria - a brutally efficient lifeform that had drifted to Earth some day in some icy rock through the heavens. The wind turbines on the trees sing mournfully, quietly and the sound dances between the steel stalks. One day, the Earth would be green again, but for now our flowers are chrome and silicon.

But for my part... I listen to her breathing and stare into the blue sky.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

That was a nice read.

[Urist Arrhenius]

Can anyone suggest a prompt? In my Agriculture class, we have to write a story about a plant-less society and how it would work out. The rules were pretty freeform, too; we can basically make animals that are able to derive the oxygen molecules from vaporized H²O. I think it'd be interesting to see what other people can come up with, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to suggest prompts 'for the bored' or anything.

Interesting. I might throw something together if I have enough time to do so. I'd be interested in it beyond the immediate problem of O₂. Is this supposed to be sort of a futuristic, getting rid of all of the plants slowly, or a situation where we evolved without any plants?

[Arx]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Amy carefully seated herself inside one of the circles chalked on the concrete, twitching her skirt until the edges were all inside the lines. She'd carelessly left the hem of one outside a week ago, and the pattern of the force lines on the concrete had been charred into it. She couldn't afford to ruin another skirt; this was the only work she could find, and it barely supported the family.

She took a moment to arrange her thoughts and breathed in, here at the pole where the line between was thin, here where the air was richer. She closed her eyes, and tapped Gerard on the shoulder. As he relaxed, she seized the link. The aurora rushing from the hole at the centre of the plaza dimmed for a moment, and then throbbed back to life. For a moment, breathing grew difficult, but then the constant gentle breeze picked up and she sighed gratefully. Her relief was short-lived. Within the space of a few minutes, her back was stiff and she was losing feeling in one leg.

Hours that felt like days later, Amy felt a tap on her shoulder and gratefully let the power slip, slumping as she did so. Another day passed in constant fear of a smudge in the lines frying her flesh on her bones and boiling her eyes out of their sockets. Just to put food on the table and breath in her lungs. She stood and stretched slowly, feeling four times her age as she turned to walk south with the wind, towards the far end of the habitable belt where the poor families lived. The worst part of grunt channeling labour was the waiting, and the second worst part was the walk.

I'm really not happy with it, but eh.

[Urist McScoopbeard]

Y'know i've been thinking about posting some things, but generally when I do, it kills the thread for some reason and pretty much no one wants to give me feedback... So i think i'll just watch.

@Arx, good concept. Makes me want to read more m8. How about a chapter for us???

[Arx]

I'm trying to finish another story this month, but if I get that done and have time over I could get behind expanding this, I guess.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

I think we should have random non computational prompts along with the computational ones, since it takes so long to judge and sometimes the prompts for the competition are difficult for people to write with. Maybe have someone post four prompts ever Monday or every other Monday.

[GiglameshDespair]

To be honest, you don't get a huge amount of feedback. I'm selfish, in that aspect: I much prefer writing to criticising.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Amy carefully seated herself inside one of the circles chalked on the concrete, twitching her skirt until the edges were all inside the lines. She'd carelessly left the hem of one outside a week ago, and the pattern of the force lines on the concrete had been charred into it. She couldn't afford to ruin another skirt; this was the only work she could find, and it barely supported the family.

She took a moment to arrange her thoughts and breathed in, here at the pole where the line between was thin, here where the air was richer. She closed her eyes, and tapped Gerard on the shoulder. As he relaxed, she seized the link. The aurora rushing from the hole at the centre of the plaza dimmed for a moment, and then throbbed back to life. For a moment, breathing grew difficult, but then the constant gentle breeze picked up and she sighed gratefully. Her relief was short-lived. Within the space of a few minutes, her back was stiff and she was losing feeling in one leg.

Hours that felt like days later, Amy felt a tap on her shoulder and gratefully let the power slip, slumping as she did so. Another day passed in constant fear of a smudge in the lines frying her flesh on her bones and boiling her eyes out of their sockets. Just to put food on the table and breath in her lungs. She stood and stretched slowly, feeling four times her age as she turned to walk south with the wind, towards the far end of the habitable belt where the poor families lived. The worst part of grunt channeling labour was the waiting, and the second worst part was the walk.

I'm really not happy with it, but eh.

Yeah, it doesn't really explain anything. Needs expanding on.

[itisnotlogical]

I started writing a thing yesterday, and now it's 14 pages (~4500 words) long. When it's finished, I want it to be a nonfiction story about how growing up in a technological age, surrounded by the Internet has affected my growth and development as an individual. I'm wondering if people at large would be interested in that sort of thing, because I'm thinking I might actually have enough to publish an eBook by the time I reach the present day. Currently it covers the first eight or so years of my life in very rough detail.

Growing Up Digital