View User's Journal

No, this journal entry is not going to be a story. Neither is it going to be a list, a profile, nor a chronicling of actual events that happened to me or anyone else. No, I'm just going to muse. See, as I drift through each and every day slacking off doing work and doing the crap it is I do, I think. And when I think, I sometimes get ideas. Sure, not all of them are good, and sure, the fleeting quality of my thoughts tend to make possible good ideas moot, but...well, I suppose I just need a way to solidify these ideas in a way that I can not only make concrete through writing, but also to read over them from a different perspective than the one afforded by my mindvoice. [I'm not crazy, that's just what I call the naration of my worded thoughts in my mind. I differentiate it from my speaking voice because when I hear a recording of my actual mouthvoice I am always struck by how odd it sounds. Clearly, I think in a voice that isn't the way I speak. But that's beside the point...] Also, this might grant me a more convenient access to a certain Maiyla's judgement, which is always welcomed.
So, now you get why I'm doing this. I'm not promising that I'll be doing this very often. Hells, this may be the only time I do it, but I'll try it anyway. Who knows? Maybe all of this free writing will rekindle my writer's spark... One can only hope.

Anyway, this addition of Musings primarily involves the Stormblade sisters, Kalili and Kalidair. While making them, I had a few specifics in mind for their characters. One of them was that I wanted a bard, and a unique one at that. Kalili, the oldest, ended up becoming that bard, and her unusual spin-off of the lyrical scoundral is that she does not sing or play an instrument to access her spells, but that she whistles. This became a definate course of action when I granted her the ability to summon to her side a spectral hound. In order to conjure it, she would give a whistle like one would to call a dog over, see? I thought it was clever and I went with it from there. With Kalidair, I wasn't entirely certain about her class at first. But it wasn't long before I was convinced that she would carry on in her father's ghostly footsteps, and in more ways than one. See, Kalili would be born fairly normally [as normally as a half halfling/human can be, that is], inhereting the trademark greyish green eyes so prevailant in Derek's family [on his mother's side] and the ability to grow taller than four feet in height. [From Mel, she got her cherubicly pretty looks and wavy hair, which I only recently found out is a rare trait in halflings.]
But Kalidair would be different. Sure, during her birth and on through her childhood she would have those same green eyes, but an evil thought struck my mind... At around the start of puberty, she would waken to find that her left iris had changed from green to blood red overnight. From there I could do a whole story arc about her theiving that eventually leads her into discovering a few special traits she earned from her father, such as being able to become incorporeal for a limited amount of time. That's right, she would become a sort of partial phantom. Not exactly inspired, but I like it. Aha, and even from there I had a few other devilishly inventive ideas. Ideas that involved a certain black garmet that hides half of its wearer's face and a ghost. I am not going to get into it because I am not uncertain of it--I am going to go through with it, and nothing is going to change that. Maybe. But in anycase, Maiyla will probably not like it. Like in the way that she doesn't like spiders, not in the way she doesn't like Twilight. She'll know what I mean.
Now then, this is where my musings begin. See, with these physical parameters at least mostly worked out, I still needed to give them their personalities. My initial thoughts on this were to make Kalili a well-humored and outgoing sort of person with a delightfully magnetic personality, charm, and overall friendly nature, whereas Kalidair would be more quiet, reserved, and evasive. I even thought of making Kalidair shorter and scrawnier that Kalili, inspiring some feelings of jealousy and inadequacy towards her older and (supposedly) "prettier" sister. I figured I might be able to work with that. I use the past tense with this because, while I have not thought of anything on the contrary, it's still up for debate. Still, I like going with that since the interpersonal issues that such conditions would create will go great with my haunted cloak angle.
Hm. Another bit of unfinished construction is Kalidairs actual appearance. I mean, I've got a few ideas and I've alreadly listed a few traits above, but I haven't been able to draw a good Kalidair. And really, a character only becomes official with me when I draw them. I've got Kalili, but no Kalidair. I'm also uncertain about her weapon. I'm thinking of going with Derek's sickle, but I'm not 100% sure.
Ah, but with what I do have done with these two spawned a very interesting thought. Looking at Kalili's bright attitude coupled with Kalidair's darker character, I found a striking resemblance with the double goddesses Yondallah and Dalla Thaun who are, incidentally, the matron deities of the halflings. I feel like I've gone the god angle a bit too much with my characters, so I don't know if I want to take this very far with these two. It is definatly food for thought, though.

~Art Update!
Well, after a couple of dragons and a bit of Rakashi, I feel raring to get back to that Oracle/Oren picture. I don't know just how I want to finish it, but I'll try some things later this week if not today or tomorrow. I've got a lot of other crap to do, so that's really bogging down my progress. Not enough to sketch out a few moonwyrms though, apparently. But dxmmit, I sometimes work with humanoids for far too long and I fear I may have lost a bit of a draconic touch, so every now and then I need a good "dragon break" to break the chain. I've drawn dragons ever since I was, like, eight, so I need to make sure I don't lose my roots.

~Book Update!
Tomorrow I'll be swinging by the library again. Going to need to bring my card, but knowing my luck Unholy wont be there anymore. Dxmn, dxmn, DXMN my luck!! I don't even believe in luck! Gar!!
I am definatly going to look into the next few books of the Black Company, and maybe even a few others that Glenn Cook wrote [though I doubt it]. I forgot the name of that author Maiyla mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago. I'll have to ask her soon... The Fanged Crown just isn't doing it for me.

~Knowledge Update!
I recently found out that there is a specific word for the act of chucking something or someone out of a window. "Defenestration", is the term. I am both surprised and amused by this fact. Surprised that such an act needs its own word, and amused that they actually came up with a word for it.

Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

More Information