Sleepdeprivedskelton - The Palace Of ADHD

So y’all know the classic edge trope of “my blade cannot be sheathed until it has tasted blood”? What if a magic sword that has that requirement, except it’s sort of inverted. A sword that, instead of being inhabited by an evil spirit which once awakened cannot be lulled back to sleep except by blood sacrifice, was inhabited by a benevolent spirit who would not allow the sword to be drawn unless bloodshed were the only possible solution. A sword whose power could never be misused because it would only allow itself to be used in situations where it was justified. What about a Paladin who spends their entire journey fighting with a sheathed sword, incapacitating but never killing or maiming. The party believes that the Paladin has taken an oath of no killing, until they face the big villain. And it is in that moment, and that moment alone, that the sword will allow itself to be drawn.

Idk, this image set my mindwheels a-turning.

But do y’all see the vision?

Writing Notes: Realistic Injuries (pt. 3)

Hostile Environments

It’s not uncommon for your characters to find themselves stranded somewhere with less than ideal conditions.

Cold

There are the obvious risks of hypothermia and frostbite.

The time for these to set in can vary drastically with temperature and windchill.

In both cases, warming should be done slowly or risk blistering of the skin and other complications such as shock.

Like burns, frostbite is classified into degrees of severity:

First degree frostbite – Numbness and whitening of skin.

Second degree – Outer layer of skin frozen, blistering likely when warmed.

Third degree – Skin is white or blue and blotchy. Skin and the tissue beneath it is hard and cold.

Heat

Risk of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Heat exhaustion is caused by insufficient water and salt intake. It is easy to develop without realising it.

Heat stroke is more severe and often follows untreated heat exhaustion. It is extremely dangerous and can be fatal.

Symptoms of Heat Exhaustion

Headache

Dizziness, faintness

Confusion and irritability

Thirst

Fast and weak pulse and breathing

Clammy skin and cramps

Additional Symptoms of Heatstroke

Hot, dry, flushed skin

Sweating stops altogether

Nausea

Disorientation up to and including hallucinations

Abnormal blood pressure

Elevated temperature

Unconsciousness

Treatment focuses on lowering the body temperature and rehydrating the person as quickly as possible.

Oxygen Deprivation

Apart from the obvious – lack of oxygen is rather bad for you (6-8 minutes for permanent brain damage) – the reason for the lack can have side effects of its own.

For example smoke, chemical or water inhalation can do physical damage to the lungs making breathing difficult even when the person is removed to a safe place.

Exposure to Vacuum

In short, your major problems would be…

Oxygen deprivation

Exposure to extreme cold

Expansion of gases within the body – meaning that holding your breath would be a Big Mistake, but not one you’d live to regret for very long

In a sudden decompression there would also be the risk of decompression sickness (the bends) and of getting hit by flying debris during the decompression itself.

Assuming you survived the initial decompression you’d have about 10 seconds of consciousness to do something about it and about one and a half minutes to live.

Parts of the body exposed would suffer from swelling, frostbite, and interrupted circulation.

Leaky spaceships

50% atmospheric pressure is enough to have people suffering from hypoxia (oxygen deprivation).

15% and you more or less, may as well be in vacuum.

Source: Leia Fee (with additions by Susannah Shepherd) More: Part 1 ⚜ Part 2 ⚜ Word Lists (Sick) (Pain) ⚜ Drunkenness ⚜ Autopsy

the ants when i vacuum their crumbs

whoever made the decision to make umpires wear cameras... you are a legend

this is genuinely the funniest thing i've ever seen

excited!

I have this worldbuilding project I’ve wanted to post about but not sure where to really start as I’m not much of a writer.

I already have to world’s lore written down so I might post it tomorrow. I’ll also post art with it.

I’m calling it Magic & Melodrama, but I might change the name later.

Moving wb to a separate blog

The Gilded rebellion, Archive 1402-25-0305

The Rich Man's Rebellion

Excerpt from The Modern History of Tarbrind and Her States by Bertrand Coffman, 1402. "…And having been tried and found wanting by Tarkenbrand, son of Ulnar; Ponsious, former king of Tarbrind, was cast down from the high tower of Tarbrind and his body dashed against the rocks and was rent upon them. Such was the body rent that neither footman nor peasant nor dog of the street could bear him away, and the crows of the mountain feasted upon his flesh." Book of Kings, 1398. Author Unknown.

The Rich Man's war, sometimes called the Gilded rebellion, was a product of severe political unrest and upheaval following the deposition of King Ponsious. When Tarkenbrand ascended to the throne, having physically thrown the former king from the tower of the Upper Gatehouse, he wasted no time in destroying the political power of the old money of Tarbrind. He quickly began removing unqualified military and government persons from service. He severed ties with the rich "sponsors" who had been using their wealth to influence legislature for generations. Naturally, this made him wildly unpopular with the wealthy families of the city.

Who is Tarkenbrand? - Tarkenbrand, or Tarken for short, is the son of Ulnar, citizen of Tarbrind, and a fishmonger. He grew up in a poor household, and joined the military as a way to supplement his family's income at the age of 18. During this time, He and his peers became disillusioned with the ruling powers. By the time his 5 year term was over, he had a wide spread of connections both in the military and among laymen.

As they always did in the past, the old blood of the city banded together to find some way to press this new king into a fitting puppet, or remove him. Naturally, they first went to the military, who had seen the upheaval of nearly 40% of leadership positions removed. To their displeasure, they found that the authority in the military had passed to those guided by duty, rather than gold. Another solution was needed. Meanwhile, rumor that many of the former nobles were plotting to overthrow the throne had reached the ears of Tarken, who decided to show them he wasn't going to play their games. He passed the Refutation of 1399, which struck down the leases which many nobles had on land in Upper Tarbrind, and once again forbidding anyone to live in the high city apart from the King's family and his guards. The act also demanded the assets on the reclaimed property be removed in 3 months, or in 12 months, alongside a heft bailout.

The Refutation Act of 1399 - As is the nature of man, and as the years moved on, the upper class citizens sought to set themselves apart from the proximity of common man. The natural answer was the inselberg of High Tarbrind, land which by law could belong only to the King, and the government by extension. To circumvent this, many rich families paid to lease land in Upper Tarbrind, and build manors there. The Refutation of 1399 severed the contracts of these leases, and made it illegal not only to own land, but for a private citizen to lease land. Not only that, but it became illegal to stay in the sector overnight, excluding only members of the King's family, his guests, and royal/city guards.

This act infuriated the now-disgraced nobles. Forced to live among the common people, they ramped up their plans by withdrawing all financial deals and support from the crown. Since Tarken had no family wealth of his own, this would have been the death stroke to his little show, bankrupting the kingdom overnight and forcing him to sign deals to regain support, or to step down entirely. It would have worked if Tarken had not already secured a personal load from the Emperor of Helebrost himself, who was dealing with a similar situation.

The financial gambit drove Tarken into a rage, and escalated the conflict into a full-blown political war. Tarken executed a nearly tenfold increase on tax for those who owned more than 100,000 Grand Tennet, equal to roughly 3000lbs of gold. This effectively targeted only the exceptionally wealthy, and took into account yearly earnings, value of assets, and invested assets. At the same time, the three month due on the 1399 act had come into effect, and Tarken was able to legally liquidate the assets of the manors of Upper Tarbrind for a huge sum of money, allowing him to hold out against the financial siege much longer. He also reduced the wage tax on the common man, and removed the tax on candles and cheese, which had been in effect for nearly three decades. This action won him huge support from the working class, and completely isolated the nobles who were working against him.

Once month before the restriction on private military was put into effect, the nobles attempted one last desperate attempt to gain the upper hand. They hired a group of 37 mercenaries, who infiltrated the upper city and bribed a guard to falsify the gatehouse record, allowing them to stay until midnight, when they stormed the Royal Palace in an attempt to capture or kill Tarken and his family. The coup ended with a bloody ten minute brawl, in which 33 of the 37 mercenaries, and 6 of the 15 Royal Guard on duty were killed. The newly appointed Vice Captain Talia of the Royal Guard singlehandedly killed seven of the assailants inside the chamber of the King, where she stood guard.

After the incident, the driving names behind the attempt on the King's life were revealed, and they were convicted of treason and executed. By law, their possessions became forfeit to the crown, which boosted the royal treasury far beyond what it had been before Tarken took power, and the Gilded rebellion was put to rest.

*turns to hiking buddy*

you are hungry in the woods. are you eating moss or bug first

I am eating the big delectable USDA beef hamburger I brought with me

NEED HELP WRITING? (a masterlist)

I have likely not added many that I've reblogged to this list. Please feel free to roam my blog and/or ask/message me to add something you'd like to see on this list!

Synonym Lists

Look by @writers-potion

Descriptors

Voices by @saraswritingtipps

Show, Don't Tell by @lyralit

Tips & Tricks

5 Tips for Creating Intimidating Antagonists by @writingwithfolklore

How To (Realistically) Make a Habit of Writing by @byoldervine

Let's Talk About Misdirection by @deception-united

Tips to Improve Character Voice by @tanaor

Stephen King's Top 20 Rules for Writers posted by @toocoolformedschool

Fun Things to Add to a Fight Scene (Hand to Hand Edition) by @illarian-rambling

Questions I Ask My Beta Readers by @burntoutdaydreamer

Skip Google for Research by @s-n-arly

Breaking Writing Rules Right: Don't Write Direct Dialogue by @septemberercfawkes

Databases/Resources

International Clothing

Advice/Uplifting

Too Ashamed of Writing To Write by @writingquestionsanswered

"Said" is Beautiful by @blue-eyed-author

Celethon the Ancient

Note recovered from the Library of Tarbrind, following the disappearance of it's author, John Heldefson, Field Scholar.

A great dragon of the ancient world, Celethon has evaded discovery for many decades. Once a close friend of the Tarbrind King, he went into seclusion after the Great Slaughter. Although the details of his current status remain uncertain, I believe that if Celethon were dead, the consequences would be felt across world. According to historical records, Celethon is approximately 750 years old, one of the most powerful and revered of the True Dragons. He holds a unique position of authority among his kin, serving as the closest thing they have to a leader. Before the Great Slaughter, Celethon was instrumental in founding an elite order known as the Dragon Knights, or Dragoons, under the Tarbrind monarchy. The Dragoons bore Celethon's blessing and symbol, acting as an elite force of warriors and diplomats between dragons and humans, and acted as the hand of Celethon wherever he could not reach himself. They represented the alliance of human and dragon-kind. Nearly all of them perished in the Slaughter, and with Celethon's disappearance, the order collapsed. The survivors reformed as the Firewatch, who to this day carry Celethon's symbol, though they now defend against other threats. Despite his rather pervasive role in history, especially up until 150 years ago, mentions of Celethon, especially physical descriptions are surprisingly sparse, and in some texts, even seemingly censored. I am looking into the matter with the help of the Library of Tarbrind, though I believe there is another who may offer some insight. Either way, Celethon was described as a truly massive dragon, nearly 600 feet in length. His scales were purest black, each one coarse and leaf-shaped, measuring about the length of a grown man's arm. His breath, said to be the hottest fire in all the realms, was used to smelt the impervious metal wolfram, discovered by the Church of the Raven within a fallen star. In personality, Celethon was calm, wise, and deliberate. He was slow to anger, but in battle, he was a force of unparalleled power, capable of rending enemies apart with ease. His might was displayed when he single-handedly slew the dragon Celic the Black, who had razed the city of Oscillia, ripping the rebel dragon in half over the burning city. Hope remains that this titan of the ancient world will one day surface again. Searches have been conducted for decades, although they have become far less frequent due to the lack of results. Personally, I believe he still watches from the shadows, protecting the lands he once called his own.

The fundamentals of Magic

I finally got around to writing a guideline for my magic system. As this was for my own use, i didn't put much effort into formatting or story-writing, but i thought i would share regardless.

General Concept:

Magic exists as an energy found in the "Third Realm," a shadow-like domain composed entirely of magical energy.

The First Realm is the physical world, and the Second Realm is the immaterial realm of the gods. The Third Realm is a non-physical shadow of the physical world composed entirely of magical energy.

All living creatures in the First Realm have a faint connection to the Third Realm, naturally drawing a small amount of magic into the physical world.

The "gods" of the second realm exist by the energy of the third realm, but exist as a sort of undefined halfway point between the first and third realms. Their domains are composed of magic with the illusion of physicality. The existence of the dead in this realm pose major questions on the nature of the soul that I honestly don't feel like trying to explain.

more on this later i think.

See [[Realms]]

Mechanics:

Larger creatures can channel more magic due to their greater connection to the Third Realm.

This is tied to a creature's volume, but has a small effect. Humans and Dragons have far more magic than one might expect from their size.

Dragons are something of a special case that will be expanded on later.

A large and small human will have a negligible difference in access to magic.

A ant will have less access to magic than a deer. etc.

Animals generally have far less accessible magic than sentient races, but special cases have been known to surface.

plants have almost no perceivable magic, this is thought to be a result of not having a soul or blood.

Magic in living beings is more stable and "pure" compared to the chaotic energy found directly in the Third Realm. Magic is "filtered" when it is pulled between realms by a living force, although the mechanism behind this is not understood.

Using magic depends greatly on what medium is used to control it.

Ember magic must be used by channeling magic from the Third Realm into the physical world without drawing it into one's own body, otherwise you risk mana sickness.

Dragon Magic uses dragon bone as either an amplifier or a battery for magic, allowing one to slowly accumulate large stores of magic which can be unleashed without loss.

"natural" magic is magic drawn directly from the user's body. This method must be used as a sort of signal current to activate and use other types of magic. It is the most widespread form, and also the weakest on its own, as humans have a very limited amount of natural magic at any given time. Think of it like blood, when you run low, you make more. You can't lose very much without feeling some serious effects.

When using Ember magic, natural magic is channeled from the user to maintain the connection to the third realm, and to direct the flow of the raw or chaotic third realm magic. This imposes a hard limit on how long an Embermancer can operate.

In draconic casting, raw magic is used to "break the seal" an unleash what is stored, but is otherwise preserved, making this an extremely efficient way to use large amounts of magic.

When casting without a medium, magic may flow from any part of the body, but most commonly the hands. Running low on internal magic will cause exhaustion and may bring similar symptoms to complete bodily exhaustion such as hallucinations, unconsciousness and cardiac arrest. If you run completely out of internal magic, you will die, although most will fall unconscious before this point, similar to how you will pass out and begin to breathe again if you hold your breath too long. If magic is being continually drawn from you, by a formulated spell or Ember channeling, for example, your body will rapidly breakdown to generate the deficit energy drawn from you. This is known as "Burnout".

Special Materials:

Dragon bone is prized for its ability to hold and amplify magic, allowing spellcasters to channel larger spells.

Ember acts as a conduit for magic. It allows magicians to draw vast amounts of energy from the Third Realm with minimal personal expenditure, but with significant risks. When in use, Ember generates a significant amount of heat. Ember takes the form of a black, basalt-like material interspersed with brilliant orange luminous crystals. The crystal formations are the actual Ember, with the black material being similar to a dross.

Ember prisms, cut from higher-grade Ember, are coveted for their increased effectiveness and reduced heat buildup. However, overheated Ember prisms can be extremely dangerous to the user. Despite their name, Prisms are not a specific shape. Ember is often found in pentagonal prism form in small samples, but very large masses can have a wide range of crystal forms. Ember can be cut to any shape. It is traditionally cut to 2-6" rods and used in a similar fashion to a wand. They are often shaped to maximize skin contact to reduce the effects of Ember-burn.

Overheated Prisms can cause serious burns, and have a chance to explode when overheated. Larger masses have the potential to run away while under heavy use, creating a huge spike in heat as the Ember begins drawing magic by it's own power. This almost always leads to the violent destruction of of the prism and the surrounding area. The only way to stop a runaway reaction is to quickly cool the mass below the critical threshold.

Runaway spells are not true spells. The original spell usually falls apart near instantly as the stone switches from a controlled stream of magic into an overflow of raw energy. This uncontrolled flood of energy usually ignites anything nearby within seconds. See [[The Helebrost Incident]].

Risks and Side Effects:

Drawing raw magic from the Third Realm into one's body, rather than expelling it directly into the world can cause "mana sickness," which manifests as nausea, muscle cramps, seizures, coma, spontaneous bleeding, and even death if overexposed. the condition generally lasts about 24 hours, while your body quickly attempts to prevent breakdown from the influx of chaotic magic.

"Burnout" occurs when a magician's body is destroyed by excess "dirty" magic drawn directly from the Third Realm, or is reduced directly into energy while overcasting, leading to violent immolation or explosion.

Ember-Specific Risks:

Prolonged use of Ember can cause mundane heat burns, and "Ember-burn"; a mostly harmless condition where the stone seeps into the user's skin, causing dark scars, patterns, itching, occasional numbness, and other irritating effects. In very extreme cases, Ember will begin to crystalize directly on, in, or even under the user's skin, sometimes causing frostbite-like damage and intense pain.

Magicians using Ember typically channel magic directly through it into the world, avoiding the chaotic energy's harmful effects on their bodies. See "Burnout"

Historical Context -- to be expanded

Horus Tobb discovered Ember magic but died from burnout while demonstrating its use to the Magician's guild in Tarbrind. This tragedy led to a global increase in interest for magical research.

The rediscovery of Magnus Helderon's Divine Theory provided a deeper understanding of the nature and mechanics of magic. See [[Magic and the Second Realm - Ember and Bone]]

The Helebrost Incident - the first recoded runaway of an Ember Prism. A 33" diameter Ember Sphere used for conducting research at the Helebrost University entered a meltdown state after a research team attempted to transmute a mass of pig iron directly into gold. The resulting inferno burned down nearly 3.5 square miles (9 square km) of the the surrounding city in a blaze which lasted nearly a week.