I’ve Got To Find My Worst-spelled Words Sometimes, But Yeah, The More Tired I Get, The Worse I Spell,

Water Witch 🌟

Unorthodox Ship Tag

Open tag from @theverumproject

The rules: Post five overly specific ship dynamics for characters in your story.

Mind-reading, anxious, tall one and easygoing, head-empty-no-thoughts, short one. (Hota-Izi)

Easily-manipulated, loyal, lesbian train wreck and giant lava monster who can get down to her level. (Lozef-Tev).

Capable, sciencey, badass, magically unstable Princess and revolutionary leader with virtually no magic. (Tagif-Mostijv).

Literally pining for 900 years and the one who never realized it. (Lozef-Dolgof).

Socially well-versed older sister and awkward-but-friendly younger brother. (Tagif-Izi.) Open tag!

~WIP Intro~

What's up guys! Recently I started a new WIP and I'm honestly really vibing with it, so I thought I would take some time to do a proper introduction before I started talking about it elsewhere!

Title: Starstruck

Genres: science fiction, fantasy, action-comedy

Progress: just started first draft! (as of July 2024)

Synopsis

The story is written in first person from the perspective of a person called Miffy, a semi-organic being created to hold unimaginable amounts of energy. Via a series of unfortunate events, she is infused with the most powerful energy weapon in the universe, and finds herself at the centre of a galaxy-wide manhunt. Eventually she ends up joining a small crew of travelling adventurers dedicated to helping anyone that needs them, and becomes embroiled in a plot on a nearby planet that might be more personal than it first appears...

I got the first ideas for the story while reading Frankenstein, so there are some similarities with the creator/creation subplots. It also has kind of Treasure Planet-ish vibes, with the big 18th century pirate ship in space and all. It's a bit hard to accurately describe in a synopsis, so if you're interested, setting/characters ect are under the cut, since it's a little long :)

(oh, and. minor warning for blood, though it's only once and in a cartoon style)

Setting

The story has two main settings: the first one is a station that is essentially a space university, except only for like, really smart people. It's the main base of the Fellowship of Gifted Individuals, and the residency of those applying to graduate into the FGI. Our main character Miffy is born here, as she's the creation of one of the students as part of his thesis project.

However, she quickly joins a crew of space explorers and travels to our second location: the planet Oduseus. This planet is relatively backwater, and stays out of the galactic loophole, with somewhat outdated technology... at least, that's what the travel books say. In reality, the crew finds the planet powered by some mysterious, renewable energy, filling the city with beautiful light. But something darker lurks beneath the surface, as citizens keep dying under mysterious circumstances...

The general galaxy is obviously space and therefore draws inspiration from many traditional sci-fi tropes, but I've also tried to include some older elements to it, for example the ship they travel in, and some hints of celestial mythology as well, like the starmaids that swirl around in the vacuum.

Content/themes

In terms of adult content, the WIP is actually pretty tame. There's no sexual (or romantic) content, and minimal swearing. The only thing I would say is there's moderate violence, mostly fantasy (like, throwing magic lasers at each other and stuff) but there are a couple of deaths that might be a bit gruesome.

The main themes of the novel are finding who you are in a world that you don't recognise and choosing to help others even when you don't have to. Other themes dealt with include responsibility, loss, rebellion against an unjust monarchy, found family and unsafe scientific practices.

Cast of Characters

(I've added Picrews to this that I made a while ago, credit goes to @elena-illustration, it's her little guy maker if you're interested)

Miffy

Name: Miffed, nicknamed Miffy

Age: physically? 19. time-wise? 3 days. mentally? unclear.

Pronouns: she/they

Miffy is the main character, and the story is told from her first-person perspective. She was created in a lab by Bikuta, but soon leaves home to explore the galaxy, and satisfy her need to help others. Due to the vast amounts of energy contained within them, they are incredibly powerful, and hunted by many, especially the malicious Dark Eyes Society. She is not particularly emotive, and can be blunt, although once she discovers the concept of lying, she uses this to her full advantage. Her sense of humour is mostly only funny to her.

Strength: 20

Stealth: 6

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 8

Social Skills: 5

Fun Facts!!!!!

- she has no intestines

- she chose her own name based on a random word she heard once (because she thought it sounded cool)

- her hobbies include hitting things with a big stick and not being able to read

Cecilia

Name: Cecilia

Age: 15 (it's complicated)

Pronouns: she/her

Cecilia is the youngest member of the crew, and loves to have fun. She smiles a lot, and enjoys making friends, although I must admit, she doesn't fully understand the concept of personal boundaries. Her signature weapons are two silver daggers that she keeps on her at all times.

Strength: 14

Stealth: 17

Intelligence: 9

Wisdom: 9

Social Skills: 7

Fun Facts!!!!!!

- she has a teddy bear named Bookaloooka

- she enjoys stealing her crewmates' clothes (and is VERY disappointed Miffy for only having one outfit)

- whenever she feels sad for no reason, she tells herself that it's because she's been assigned to mourn the death of a stranger

North

Name: North (unclear if this is his legal name)

Age: 25

Pronouns: he/him

North is a member of the crew, and wields incredible mystical powers. He is very serious, and tends to keep himself to himself, preferring to meditate in solitude. He likes playing board games. You get the sense that he's running from something...

Strength: 18

Stealth: 12

Intelligence: 15

Wisdom: 10

Social Skills: 3

Fun Facts!!!!!!

- he's deathly scared of children

- occasionally he will just make the worst pun possible, because he knows that it's good to be funny he just doesn't know how

- coincidentally, said puns are the only things Miffy will laugh at

Reginald

Name: Reginald Bleaks

Age: 38

Pronouns: he/him

Reginald is another member of the crew, and their main source of information. He's very British (despite the fact that Britain doesn't exist), and is knowledgeable about the more criminal aspects of society. He can be pretty salty sometimes, but also cares deeply about his family.

Strength: 15

Stealth: 10

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 12

Social Skills: 10

Fun Facts!!!!!!

- his hair is #D2B48C

- Raven and North found him in a dive bar

- the entirety of the FGI hates his guts with a passion. They deeply loathe him. They wish he was pushing up daisies

Raven

Name: Raven Shimmerseat Hortensia Twinkle the Third

Age: 39

Pronouns: she/her

Raven is the unofficial leader of the crew, and the owner of the ship. She's very caring and empathetic, and has a special fondness for collecting strays, opening both her ship and her heart to anyone that wishes to join them. She is, however, from a very wealthy background, and can sometimes struggle to connect with others due to her wildly different upbringing.

Strength: 13

Stealth: 9

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 15

Social Skills: 9

Fun Facts!!!!!

- sometimes she and Reginald just sit on a bench throwing shade at passerbys

- she has six younger sisters

- when she was in her early twenties, she released a rap album full of songs about interstellar economics. It won a space grammy. She doesn't like to talk about it

Bikuta

Name: Bikuta Ashikaga

Age: 21

Pronouns: he/him

Bikuta is the man who created Miffy. He's working towards his acceptance into the Fellowship of Gifted Individuals, and gets very upset when Miffy leaves him, since he needs them to complete his thesis project. He is highly unethical and willing to do almost anything for science. He refers to Miffy as his sister, since he claims to be 'too young to be a dad'.

Strength: 4

Stealth: 7

Intelligence: 19

Wisdom: 7

Social Skills: 6

Fun Facts!!!!!!!!

- his hair is actually black, he dyes it midway through the story so that he can match Miffy

- he specialises in semi-organic matter and its potential as a vessel for renewable energy

- he unironically uses uwu when texting

Cobalt

Name: code named Cobalt

Age: 42

Pronouns: he/him

Cobalt is a bounty hunter who spends most of the book trying to kidnap Miffy. He's part of an elite Guild and highly professional, stopping at nothing to complete his assignment. While not exactly the most innocent person in the book, he's not necessarily amoral, and views Miffy as a job rather than an enemy.

Strength: 17

Stealth: 14

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 11

Social Skills: 9

Fun Facts!!!!!!!!!!

- now, dear reader, you may not have noticed this, but he is, surprisingly, a little bit fond of swords

- he has beef with not one but two feral teenagers

- these two teenagers happen to be a) his best friend's son and b) his boss

Aaand that's it! I hope y'all enjoyed :) feel free to ask me any questions, I will take literally any excuse to ramble lmao

I have to wonder (in a non-conspiratorial way) if not teaching phonics is also part of an effort to dismantle public schools and keep people dumb.

Because literacy was historically used as a tool to reinforce class divides. It still remains that way in many places.

I used to be mad about "whole language" reading approaches in theory but now I work with school-age kids and I am mad about it in practice.

In the context of Meiste, absolutely. It's only now that I realize I've never described the names of the characters, nor how they relate.

Iziser - A borrowing from Classical Zispoel "Izilseor," which is a name found in the Epic of the Hero of Life. It was once used to mean 'one who eats,' and metaphorically extended to 'one who is in love,' then 'one who loves.'

Hotautebz - Hotau is to literally ascend. It's an Old Ytos word for to ascend, plus "tebz" which is another old word for person.

Lozerief - Classical Zispoel for 'life,' definitely supposed to be a pun since she's the Hero of Earth, not life.

Are you the writer who carefully chooses OC names for their meanings, or are you the writer who picks whatever sounds good?

OC Lore Excerpt

I got the brilliant idea for this short excerpt after listening to one of my favorite songs.

This excerpt is a piece of Aito’s lore, where he lost someone he loved dearly due to his lack of acceptance for himself.

Edit note: This specific excerpt is set in 19th century England (Aito is hundreds of years old) (that’s a whole other piece of lore but whatever)

WARNING: THIS EXCERPT CONTAINS SEXUAL THEMES.

“Do you love me?”

It was morning, and the sun peeked through the drawn curtains onto his tanned face and reflected in his eyes, making them shine like a swirled caramel. I sat on the edge of the bed, in my nude, and he laid behind me with his cheek propped on his hand and the sheets covering his lower body.

I looked at him, a mild visage of bewilderment on my face. I gave a scoff as I stood and grabbed my shirt off the nearby chair. “I just had sex with you. Why wouldn’t I?”

I felt his fingers trace down my spine and stop above my rear, then he placed his hand on my lower back. I shivered as I began buttoning my white shirt.

“I don’t know. You just felt…distant the whole time,” he said softly. He tugged at the back of my shirt, and I turned to face him after I picked up my tie.

“How so?” I asked, looking down at him as I straightened the black tie around my neck. 

He slipped the covers off himself and sat off the edge of the bed in front of me. My eyes traced his figure as he looked up. He ran his hands up the sides of my thighs and stopped at my hips, massaging them. “You just looked…apathetic the whole time. As if you weren’t enjoying it.” His eyes would flit up my body, and I inhaled sharply as he ran his hands down my front. I swallowed hard and slipped my trembling fingers into his messy black hair, although gingerly.

His hands rested on the backs of my thighs as he looked up at me again, a faint, pained expression on his face. His hands dropped and clasped in his lap as he pressed his forehead into my stomach. “That. You’re hesitant. Why?”

I stared down at him, then dropped my hands as well. I felt a vise grip my chest, and I opened my mouth to speak, then closed it. After a moment, he raised his head and eyed at me expectantly. I exhaled deeply and closed my eyes. “I…I don’t know.”

I did know. But I hated that I knew. I knew it was because I still couldn’t fully approve of all the love I wanted to give.

I opened my eyes, and his expression was one of unconvinced hurt.

Gently, he placed his hands on my hips and pushed me a step back. He stood and tilted his head up at me, his voice breaking. “You hurt me so. You can’t even say you love me back.”

My breath hitched in my throat, and I stared at him silently. I felt my eyes begin to sting and gloss over.

“Cry for me,” he challenged, although it came out more as a quiet, choked beg.

I blinked away my tears.

Day 13 (16 in base 7) of writing my novel again.

Today, in addition to adding about 700 words to Part Two, I also made a bunch of translations into Modern Ipol. I probably translated about two hundred words of English into Ipol, and I will post one snippit of it here:

Pijteshijv sispeen pijte sis Nistemiks sis Nurrif sis Leerf pifijz. Pijteshijv losr shise tismostijv sispeenes pijte sis leerfine sis koleerf pite, Ir Nusnijv, spuw's sis spine, por sisla's pijte sju sis koleerf ejr sotenaks sis Nistemiks piste.

Ipol is the language of the Hero of Life's Confederacy of Zeneste. It started as the dialect of the capital, Ir Nouzonif, where it diffused, becoming a standard language for Zeneste. It replaced Classical Zispoel as the language of government and official business one-hundred and fifty years ago.

A couple notes:

ij and uw are symbols for long i and long u respectively.

j before a vowel is the palatal glide /j/.

Nistemiks literally means "the states" but it's also the most natural translation for 'Zeneste.'

Maybe at a later date, I'll do a post that breaks down this translation, but that's all for now!

I keep doubting I can find nicher fandoms but here we are. does anybody want to talk about ZeWei and Laghari Portals

since i’ve actually thought about this for my con world, let me indulge:

In Zeneste, lots of fish. Like, insane amounts of fish. Pickled fish. Breaded and fried fish. Grilled fish. I imagine it chopped up and served in little cups or on skewers with the same chopped up pieces.

As you approach the northern parts of Zeneste, there is increasingly more fruit. Mostly stone fruits: plums, apples, pears, peaches. The climate is colder, so closer to the coast you’ll encounter more cod and salmon in the Northeast.

In Åtepsi (which I may later rename), you’ll find much more rice with tropical fruit. They like sweet rice a lot, so balls of sticky, sweet rice are sold a lot. Also okra.

In Ōdapir there’s a lot of dairy (more so than the rest of the world) and so lots of cheese curds. Also tree nuts.

not enough fantasy settings talk about street food like c'mon there was street food in ancient times across basically every culture lemme see what weird snacks you can buy off a guy in an alleyway

Day 16 (22 in base 7) of rewriting my conlang

While not lagging behind in terms of written content, I am definitely lagging behind in creating Modern Odapir, which is rather important for the story!

Now, there exists one word in Modern Odapir. One word. Tavishy, although this is an anglicism of the actual word. It came from Middle Odapir tabishu:, which meant 'safety, tranquility,' but also meant 'hide, conceal' when used as a verb. I haven't decided how it will be semantically changed yet.

Modern Odapir's vowels will be very cursed btw. Middle Odapir's vowels are already like... super cursed (see last post.) I'm thinking palatal sounds (j, sh, c) turn u > y, and then "disappear." (Like, j > lost, sh > h, and c > ts > s.)

Yeah and I'm gonna try to get rid of the affricates in the modern language. It creates some fun allophonic variation for the stops (e.g. p > f / [+vowel] _ [+vowel], elsewhere p, etc...) I may also have f, s > h / [+vowel] _ [+vowel].

That's all for now, amɜdáhō! (That's middle Odapir for both goodbye and hello!)