Hard Luck

Nothing raised Aylon's spirit like a walk through the forest. All around her, life flourished, from the mushroom-covered logs on the ground to the squirrel families leaping through the treetops. The woman knew all too well how hard pressed one could be to survive in this place, but the sheer beauty of the natural landscape more than made up for it.
Moving silently along the faint pathways she had made over the years, Aylon soon neared her hidden home. It had been a sweet victory, sending her former mentor Edercy on his way, but she knew he would be back at some point.
Preparations needed to be made.
Just as she stepped into the clearing around the ancient oak tree, though, Aylon sensed the approach of a large creature. She froze with a grin on her face, waiting for the ambush that always accompanied her return. A bellow of rage deafened her as a behemoth erupted from the foliage to her left. Flexing her legs, Aylon leaped away, twisting through air so as to come down facing the creature.
As large as a horse and twice a heavily muscled, the drake slid to a stop, changing his tactics to slowly circle the woman. Admiring, as she always did, the way her opponent's orange hide rippled with the cautious movement, Aylon held her hands ready over the daggers secured to her belt. When the drake finally charged again, she jumped again, straight up into the air, then came down on the beast's neck as he passed under her. Throwing her arms around his head, Aylon carefully pressed her daggers against the underside of the drake's jaw, at the soft spot where one jab wold go up through his mouth and brain.
Stopping immediately, the beast did something she wasn't expecting - he rolled over. Aylon scrambled to not be crushed under the monster's bulk. Rather than retreat and begin again, though, she instead got in close to the drake's underbelly. There, even as he tried to right himself, she was able to hold a dagger in the hollows between each of his front legs and chest. Realizing the danger to his heart and other vital organs, the drake became still.
"Done yet?" Aylon asked sweetly. Huffing, the beast shook his scales out, the signal for surrender. Aylon removed her weapons with a laugh.
"You almost got me that time, Hard Luck." She said. "Someday you may actually win our contest." The drake looked her straight in the eye with his usual glare.
Aylon remembered the first time the monster had looked at her like that. It had been after their first fight, a few years back, when each of them had sustained heavy injuries from the other. As the two top predators in the forest, competing with one another would only lead to both of their deaths. It was then that Aylon had struck a bargain with the intelligent drake - if one day he could beat her in a fair fight, the woman would leave his forest. Until then, they wouldn't interfere with one another's business.
She'd never imagined that the deal would lead to a grudging respect for one another, or that the drake would gradually shift his den closer and closer to hers, until the two shared the same home. Aylon suspected that her wild companion had begun to be less earnest in his attempts to best and get rid of her, but there was no way he would ever admit to that.
"Did you catch anything for dinner?" Aylon asked as she re-sheathed her daggers. Tossing his head to the treeline, Hard Luck (as Aylon had come to call him) indicated a kill he'd made a short while ago.
That evening, after she had skinned, butchered and cooked the stag, Aylon began constructing more trip-line crossbows as Hard Luck munched on his portion of the meal beside her.

Introducing one of my favorites for this series, I'll add an illustration of Hard Luck and Aylon at some point.
-Triscribe

World's Hero Organization

The Council:

• The Board (Each new member selects a successor when they join, who is only known among the other members)
• Shinjitsu - Can sense when someone is lying, and discern the real truth
• Detention Agents - Operate and manage the various prisons and detention facilities for villainous and delinquent anotas
• Vulcan - Magma elemental
• Disaster Agents - Prevent or restrict the effects of natural disasters
• Dynata - Explosive touch, heat vision, knack for insults
• Combat Agents - The typical fighters of supervillains
• Spirit Seeker - Interacts with the spirits of the dead
• Mystic Agents - Those who deal with matters of the supernatural
• Digi-gal - Mind melds with electronics
• Intelligence Agents - All manner of spies and infiltrators who gather information before striking a blow
• The Circle (When a member passes away or retires, their position is filled by the next eligible person from that field)
• Miss Merry - Frost elemental with an inexplicable sense of style
• Public Administrators - Masters of media, artists of advertising
• Orb - Purplish, floating orb that can gather, interpret and act upon data from dozens of sources at once
• Global Administrators - Watchers and monitors who are responsible for recording all the facts needed by just about everyone else
• Sylver - Silver tongue, calms/soothes people’s minds
• Business Administrators - Manage the monetary aspects of the organization
• Kuikku - Short, line of sight teleports
• Inner Administrators - Paperwork workers, communications creators, and all-around organization organizers
• Ringside - No anota abilities
• Trainers - Responsible for preparing all new recruits for whatever field they’ve been brought in for
• The Arc (When a new member is needed, the employees in that field vote for a suitable replacement)
• Bedrock - Turns rocks into rubble
• Underground Constructors - Create and reinforce the tunnel systems and bases used by the organization
• Apoyo - Super strong, titanium skin form
• Urban Constructors - Builders and managers of every major city Center
• Plow Hand - Creates massive chunks of telekinetic energy capable of moving earth, people and buildings
• Rural Constructors - Builders and managers of every Center outside of a city
• Stardancer - Flies, and doesn’t need to breath
• Non-terran Constructors - Set up bases in the hard-to-reach-places, such as aquatic, aerial and in space
• Wormhole - Tears rifts to the Weir Web and can travel along the paths, from one side of the planet to the other
• Transportation Constructors - Run the important task of maintaining modes of travel in-between the organization’s Centers and bases

Formed over eighty years ago by the first team of Anota superheroes, the organization has grown to a global scale in a relatively short amount of time, training and helping super-powered people all over the world. (Anotas coming from the Greek word anoteros, or superior.) Now, with career options for practically every kind of superpower, as well as many for those who do without, W.H.O is the ultimate global organization. They have representatives in almost every country around the world, and at least one Center in every region where the population percentage of anotas comes above 5% (with varying amounts of resources, of course, but always with the means for control training and quick teleportation to larger locations).

...

For lack of a better post, I hope this at least proves interesting. Most of these details don't actually feature in the comicbook series I've planned out (at least, not the first 45-issue story arc), but it's still important to work out the background stuff ahead of time. Not to mention, it's always fun coming up with unique looks/names/powers.

Hope the weather is tolerable where you are,

-Triscribe

Math... With Superheroes?!

Gah! Nearly a month without an entry, that's just terrible. But between homework, artwork, writing, and avoiding one to do the others... I've been busy. Only a semi-productive busy, unfortunately, or else I'd have more report on.
Well, at least there is one thing I can type about: determining a superhero's power level. An equation of my own design, for use with my comicbook characters:

Equation: Power level = (Lasting effect x Minimum concentration^2) + Rarity

(An anota’s power level is the height of their ability. Those with multiple powers have their equations averaged.)

Lasting effect: Instant (1), Momentary (2), Minutes (3), Hours (4), Days (5), Weeks(6), Months (7), Years (8), Decades (9), Permanent (10)

Minimum concentration: Subconscious (10), Instinctive (9), Conscious (8), Split-second 7), Actively think (6), Utter focus (5), Hard (4), Max effort (3), Struggle (2), Involuntary (1)

Rarity: Psionics (1-5), Physical (3-7), Primal (6-10)

Anota abilities (superpowers) are determined by genetics, all tracing back to the first mutant. Anyone can be born with them, but children with anota parents are twice as likely to develop powers related to those of their family members (this chance is increased exponentially if there are anota grandparents as well). Powers from previous generations can be mixed together or all passed on at once to a child, creating some rather strange combinations.

There are often cases of large families having only one or two anota children surrounded by normal siblings and parents. In those situations, there is often an anota relative not in the direct line of ancestry.

Classifications:

• Psionic
• Tele-skills
• Telepathy
• Telekinesis
• Teleportation
• Mind over matter
• Transmutation
• Matter manipulation
• Physical
• Enhancements
• Super-muscles
• Transformations
• Shapeshifting
• Molecular alteration
• Mutations
• Permanent, mutated or irradiated form
• Primal
• Elements
• Control of certain material(s)
• Forces
• Influence over natural forces

I hope this is at least semi-interesting... To all of you, at least. I find it amusing that math is the subject I'm least willing to do homework for, yet I'm doing algebra for my comicbook. The first time I realized this I thought the world had gone topsy-turvy.

Stay warm!

-Triscribe

Secret Weapon!

Watercolor Pencils + New Scanner = Ultimate Awesomeness for me!
Now I have my first short story with illustrations, and soon it will be followed by my first blog entry with illustrations! Granted, my pictures aren't the best, but I put a lot of effort into them and usually like the results.

Such as this piece, the title picture for my short story: Crisis at Forest's Edge. Whipped it up in a few minutes, so you know it isn't my best work, especially the uneven shading of the sky. Still, not bad for an amateur, wouldn't you say?

-Triscribe

The Hunt

From the instant Edercy the Tracker first stepped into the forest, he knew it was a land like no other. The initial layer of vegetation grew close together, forming a thick barrier, almost in an attempt to hold back intruders. Once one got past the clinging vines, gnarled trees and thorn-covered bushes, though, the forest was quite beautiful. Sun filled meadows frequently appeared, and there were plenty of animal trails to follow to avoid the worst of the plants. Streams meandered through the trees, marked by bright green ferns and mossy boulders.
What interested Edercy the most, however, were the traps.
These were not simple snares set along animal trails or near watering holes, but ingenious booby-traps designed to capture intruders of the two-legged variety. Edercy spotted most immediately, though he knew that typical raiding parties from the logging camps or other spreaders of civilization would be blundering into them without the slightest clue of danger. There were pitfalls that dropped down into cloying mud, tripwires  set before large cloths covered in sticky sap, and a variety of nets and swinging logs that would knock a grow man off his feet.
None of these traps were lethal, a particular point that Edercy noted with some disgust, despite that anyone unfortunate enough to become entangled in them would need to procure expert help in order to get out again.
Ignoring the multitude of simple traps, the Tracker tried to focus on finding signs of his quarry, since it was clear she was the one to have prepared this welcome. As a consequence of his concentration, Edercy almost stepped straight into the next level of defenses.
He felt the nearly invisible wire as soon as he trod on it, and a sixth sense told the man to drop to the ground, just before a light projectile whistled right over his head, striking the tree trunk behind him instead. Cautiously returning to his feet, Edercy inspected this new trap. A small bolt, probably fired from a miniature crossbow set somewhere in the tree beyond, had sunk into the bark. Pulling it out for a closer look, the Tracker noted the dark stain at the end. Probably a sedative poison, he thought. Now the hunt was becoming more serious.
Returning to his search, Edercy proceeded with more alertness to his surroundings. It barely mattered, as only his lightning-fast reflexes saved him from various more traps, which were gradually increasing in complexity. Somehow, the Tracker knew they were meant for him.
It began to grow dark in the forest even before the sun had touched down on the horizon, and Edercy began to turn his search from his quarry to a place to spend the night. He finally settled on a small cave carved out of a low mound, probably from some ancient tree that had grow out at an angle before falling to the ground and decomposing away. There was suitable cover around the cave, as well as an abundance of dry twigs and leaves, which would crunch slightly should anyone approach. Anyone other than his former apprentice and quarry, that is.
But Edercy wasn't worried about a night attack from Aylon. She would want to try to drive him out of the forest before fighting.
As the Tracker went to sleep, he didn't realize that the very one he searched for was sitting in the branches right over his shallow cave. The man didn't stir when she dropped down a little pod with thin skin, which burst open when it landed next to his nose. Even if Edercy had been awake and aware at that point, the sleeping gas that floated out of the pod would have knocked him out anyway.
The next morning, long after the sun had risen again, the Tracker awoke to find himself laid out on an old log, gently floating down the main tributary of the river that traveled out of the forest.
"Well played, Aylon." He whispered, aware that his knapsack of provisions and spare weaponry was missing. "But this is only the first round."

Wishing you a happy holiday season, and a better day than Edercy is going to have,
Triscribe

Day Late

I meant to do a post yesterday for Friday the 13th, but just ran out of time. Spent too much time working on my new creation idea: Dragons of Sarant. So far I've created eight classifications, twenty total types of dragon, each with individual colors, habitats, distinctive weapons and general personalities. I pulled out the good old Dracopedia and Draconomicon for reference material, since those are two of my favorite dragon books of all time (despite that one is a how-to-draw book and the other was written for a D&D role-playing game). What do you think of these names:

The Ebon Drakes of Shadow, Smoke and Caverns; led by Mariatan, a firm believer in dragon superiority.
The Azure Serpents of Seas and Swamps; led by Atela the Passive, who doesn't believe in much at all
The Emerald Wyrms of Forest, Hill and Plain; led by Lahe, friend of druids
The Golden Dragons of Desert and Sun; led by Amutbeh the Silver-Eyed, supporter of survival of the fittest
The Pale Wyrms of Ice, Tundra and Air; led by Dialyl, friend of Frost Giants and supreme hunter of the Far North
The Crimson Dragons of Fire and the Abyss; led by Agryxal, Bringer of Destruction and Rebirth
The Terran Drakes of Earth, Mountain and Magma; led by Psoniak, who spends more time gardening then leading
The Violet Dragons of Storm and Light; led by Talasta, the Dragon Queen

And of course, I need to make drawings of each kind and the corresponding Anon servants. Gods that be, I have so much story work to get through... Hope you all have a good Saturday at the least.
-Triscribe

Creative Explosion is No Good

Somehow, my mind has flipped into a creative overdrive. I've got story ideas for continuing the Royal Trio, but at the same time I'm working on the penciling for my semi-first comicbook and finally figuring out how to get past the plot blocks in the third book of my Sarantian trilogy and starting a revamp for my family of elementals' graphic novel series.

Normally, this would be all good, but coupled with getting pre-calculus homework done on time and putting in the effort to finish my last essay for Dual Credit English means I just don't have enough hours in the day to do everything I want to. Sometimes I think the people in charge of High School don't want me to be a successful author or artist...

Ah, well. I'll have the next installment for Aylon Wildseeker soon. For whoever actually reads this blog, that is.
-Triscribe