Okay, counter that!!

An explanation of the phenomenon called "Counter-Substances" that was developed during the outlining of 'The Shadow Mind' (The outline has, by the way, been finished!). The idea is pretty basic--certain substances will only be capable of making physical connection with certain others. Sound simple? It really isn't. The trick is knowing what substances match with which others. Some substances have a large number of Counter Substances, while others might have one. Case in point, the metals used in 'The Shadow Mind' to demonstrate this quality, Shaiglon (SHY-glahn) and Lucinor (LOO-sihn-ohr).

Counter-Substances are used mostly in weapons and armor. Most of the time each has a unique characteristic that will enable you to identify it from a distance. Lucinor, for example, reacts with the adrenaline concentration in its holder's body. In the case of battle, the adrenaline levels in a person's body are almost certain to go up. Lucinor is very sensitive to those levels, and reacts to high levels of adrenaline by taking on the appearance of being fashioned from flames.

Here's the trick about all this: how do you get Shaiglon and/or Lucinor? You can mine for them, yes, but they are both very rare. In fact, nearly all Counter-Substances are hard to get ahold of. What-to do then, when the dark side starts mass-producing weapons made from Shaiglon? You look for an alternative. You see, you don't just have Counter-Substances. You also have 'Intermediate-Substances' that correspond to most Counter-Substances. Shaiglon and Lucinor do have an Intermediate-Substance, called Klona (KLOH-nah). Although the process is very difficult to do, it is possible to morph Klona into Shaiglon and Lucinor (not at the same time, of course).

Time to head back to Earth... and the Forge.

The Shadow Mind Begun

Alright. I've given you some background on where I'm at--I'll start dropping true Sparks now.

Yesterday I finally sat down after several weeks of brain-storming and began to write out the Outline for 'The Shadow Mind', the 3rd book in the series 'Xor Sector'. This one is getting tricky... I've come up with two new systems: Fynto (FIN-toe) and Nastagoryth (nahs-TAH-gore-yth). Also designed are the self-operated combat robots, the Krishnath (KRISH-nath), which are about 6 feet high at the head and structured like a Theropod. They are incredibly inteligent--much more so than the Federation Battledroids from Star Wars. Each Krishnath has five 'guns'--four are located on the underside of the lower jaw. The other 'gun' is a single-use weapon that releases large, shot-gun style blasts of pulson balls. The latter system is located in the Krishnath's chest, and is used in one of two instances: (1) to blow open a door, partticularly if it is heavily reinforced, and (2) if a Krishnath were to enter an area and find itself confronted with forces too large for it to handle with the lower power guns located under its jaw.

The four guns on the Krishnath's head are very low power--generally two shots would be required to terminate a human. But when each gun has a 2:1 shot/second ratio, that means a possible eight shots a second--thus the Krishnath's gun speed makes up for the power. The Krishnath is very agile, being fully capable of almost any ground maneuvers that a human might take.

Another use for the Krishnath is their ability to fly. Their leg-guards and a few other pieces of armor are designed in such a way as to extend upwards and out to form wings, giving the Krishnath flight abilities. However, that ability is mostly used for landing or board procedures--they are not space-fighter material. One note--the Krishnath is not very good in close-quarter combat.

The Krishnath does have a particularly large counterpart--the Nashkon--which can be pretty much described as being Krishnath, only about 5 times the Krishnath's size. There are four Nashkon: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta. Each has one 'Wing' under its command, each Wing containing 15 Krishnath. Each wing has three 'Coms', which have direct control of an 'Operation' of four Krishnath. Each operation is split in two halves; a Genor (JEN-or) is the leader here. Thus, you have four Nashkon, four Wings, twelve Coms, and twenty-four Genors.

That's the breakdown of the Nashkon and Krishnath forces--they are used when traitorous forces are discovered on the system Fynto, mentioned at the beginning of this post. Alpha Wing is the first group manufactured, but Delta Wing, including its Nashkon, is the first force from Xor Sector to land on Fynto in a swift and deadly invasion.

Giving Color to the Sparks

I finished up my final exams--and came out of my first College Term with a 4.0 GPA! That meant that I finished up those two classes and an Online Spanish II course, only to pick up my Algebra II, History, and Chemistry back at home once more. It's rough--but at least none of those subjects take as much time as my College ones did!

I'd better explain the various series that I have designed so I don't lose you when I start throwing around titles. In chronological order, the series that I have ideas for so far are: 'Guardian', 'Battle in M101', 'Xor Sector', 'Invasion of the Milky Way', 'The Sect Wars', and potentially anoter series called 'Lost Legends'. That makes a total of six series--'Guardian' might be 2 books, 'Battle in M101' would be 6-7, 'Xor Sector' is undetermined--it might possibly turn out maybe 8-10--'Invasion of the Milky Way' I think will turn out 4 or so, 'The Sect Wars' would be 3-4, and so far we have ideas for 2 books in 'Lost Legends'. All that totals possible material for 25-29 books in the saga! Whew... that would almost take me a life-time, I believe!

'Guardian' simply covers the events that lead up to where the original Book 1 of the saga, "The Dead Civilization", opens up. It would be in 1st person from the POV of the body-guard, Thraknoth, of the ancient hero Spartos in 'Battle in M101'.

'Battle in M101' is a more difficult matter to explain. It follows the 2 Giants' Wars, which span 40-45 years. However, 'Battle in M101' is split in 2 by the series 'Xor Sector'.

After your original evil forces in the 1st Giants' War are defeated, your three main characters head home to the Milky Way. A 15 year time-span lapses, during which the original evil forces rise to an even greater power than before and begin to over-run and destroy everything that your three main characters from the 1st Giants' War accomplished. 'Xor Sector' follows the Spec-Ops force by that name. Xor Sector is comprised of multiple divisions, each with different strengths and operative areas. 'Xor Sector' is an Sci-Fi/Fantasy Action/Mystery story jam-packed with unexpected twists and turns on stories that trace even all the way back to 'Guardian'. A decent amount of action occurs in this series. You will have multiple main characters over the course of the series. By this statement, I mean that you have 1, Ordonel, for the first 3 books, and after that you end up with a different one for a couple others. You thus gain an in-depth view of the inner-workings of 'Xor Sector' and it's divisions--Xor plays a hefty part in many of the future tales. 'Xor Sector' overlaps into the 5th book of 'Battle in M101', giving you a different view-point of the opening in the latter.

More another time... starting with 'Invasion of the Milky Way!

The Adventure Begins...

I took Part 1 of my WR-121 Final Exam for the spring 2010 Term this morning. Went good, but we'll see how whatever instructors are selected to grade it think--as I've found out before now, mine isn't the only opinion in the world. I thought one of my WR-121 papers was really super good... until I ended up with an 82 on it. But--I've figured some of the stuff out, and just found out I got a 90 on the next one. Glad to see there's some improvement in my writing.

But then, it's not like I don't feel that there has been. I've never liked writing. When I started a school-day, I would feel like someone walking in an area with good Cougar habitat. I might not see the writing assignments first off, but they were around and ready to devour me. That was before January of 2009; before I got the idea of "The Forges of Nebuthos."

It started after I finished singing Steven Curtis Chapman's "Dancin' with the Dinosaur." I don't know why the idea hit me then, and never before, but it did. Why in the world wasn't there much Dino lit in the world today? I figured that the situation wouldn't change too much if I just wondered. I started experimenting with Dino ideas, and the Sci-Fi/Fantasy Galactic World of Arcleiada was born.

I talked with my younger brother Clint about my idea (He was 14 and I was 16), and he got all on fire. We talked to a few friends. What did they think? They thought the idea was awesome. Now, in case you're wondering, "The Forges of Nebuthos" only received that name a couple of months ago. Until then, Clint and I had referred to our story as "Triassic Wars." I know, very ingenuitive. NOT!!

Clint and I decided to write four books--the names were not decided upon until some three months later--and end the story there. But it was not to be. About a month later, we had come up with ideas for two more books. After that, we decided that we weren't content to leave everything in Arcleiada (AHRC-lee-AY-duh)--hence the series "Invasion of the Milky Way" came into existence. I'll probably leave off for now--with one note: Most of the various 'series' are merely a collection of ideas that are slowly formulating into individual titles. So far, the only titles that we have actually come up with plots for are: "The Dead Civilization", "Twilight's Dawn", "A Star Called Dragon", "The Skies of Tumult", "White Shadow Rising", and "A Crisis of Identity".

That's all for now...