Well, the writing is going slowly, I'm afraid. But that's okay, since there are always real-life intrusions to blame. Work, sleep, other projects, and sheer laziness all play a role.
One thing I have been working on is a world in which those stories may or may not take place. It all started with a blog. Valerie D'Orazio's Occasional Superheroine blog to be exact. In a great series of posts wherein she describes her trials within and without the comic book bizness, she mentions a name generator. Not one in particular, just that they exist.
So, of course I hit Google, and found Seventh Sanctum. This is a site with numerous and helpful generators for a number of gaming and writing needs. Especially for someone like myself, with a comics and gaming background.
Seventh Sanctum lead me to this fractal world generator.
That's where I generated the above map of my new world. It doesn't have a name yet, just a designation: 1535565268_28_28. If you visit the site and are at all curious to see better images of my new world, simply type 1535565268 into the random seed field and set the water and ice levels to 28 each. You can view the world as a flat map, as a hemisphere or even rotating! That's a really cool feature. Sometimes I just set it up and watch the world rotate.
Once I had finally settled on a randomly generated world that pleased me, I set about to deduce some of the major features of the world. By altering the water level to about 90%, I could locate the highest mountain peaks and ranges. By using the green portions, I could mark where the major rivers might occur. With mountains and rivers, I can determine where the major cities might crop up. There is a wealth of information to be created using this wonderful generator.
At the same time, I had found the great online Steampunk comic Girl Genius. This was to prove vital to providing the main inspiration for the overall setting that any stories might find themselves growing within. If you haven't read Girl Genius, I urge you to do so right now. It is one of the finest stories I have read in the genre of comics. Brilliant writing, beautiful coloring. I can't rave enough about the story. But I won't anymore right now. Just go read the thing!
What I have mainly settled on is a world in which the primary technology is created, maintained and controlled by nine very powerful Guilds of Alchemy, which on this world, is the catch-all term for any form of science. It's a combination of technology and carefully guarded arcane knowledge. Each Guild has it's own particular form of Alchemy; steam, electricity, rocketry, flight, healing, mechanics, motors, minerals and forces. These Guilds operate independently of any government and provide their technology to all fairly. But the Guilds control the technology, and they all co-operate with each other. They have successfully kept any country or region from practicing the art of war for nearly one thousand years. They simply have all the technology, and the battle robots of the mechanics guild ensure that no war is waged.
Another reason why war has been dropped is that the Guilds ensure that trade is maintained from region to region. They tend to keep banditry and piracy to a minimum and most people at least fear the Guilds and their representatives, if not outright cheer them for their gifts of the technology that makes their lives better.
Hey, it's my world. If I don't want war, then there will be no war.
Probably.
Another aspect that I fully admit that I stole from Roger Zelazny. Gunpowder will not work on this world. Period. As well as the fact that no one has figured out that this black, smelly sludge that has been pumped up from the rocks is good for much of anything except machine lubricant.
That's about as far as I've gotten, except for having some fun generating various characters that are intended to be periferral at best, and some of the minor characters who might be involved with the main characters. People like the fellow who calls himself "The Secret Horror in the Shadows of Society," Ben Franklin's Steam Knight Corps, the Rocket Motor Legion and the Buckminster Fuller Quintet.
It's been a fun distraction, and I have always loved creating characters, scenarios and settings. I don't know how deep this well goes, but I will draw from it as long as the cool water of inspiration lasts. I will post here with any progress.
Thanks for reading!
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