Plasma?

That's right. We are developing several plasma weapons: the Plasma Bolt (no-brainer!) and the Electus Torpedo. Brief overview: both weapons are built around the use of Plasma fields being launched through space at their targets. You can attack and destroy them, although it is very difficult--and with the Torpedo, it's "at your own (high) risk". So what's the deal? The shielding system that our space-craft use is based inside of the craft. It raises a slight field that conforms to the ship, and is invisible to the naked eye; it is only detectable by scanners, or previous knowledge of its existence. The Pulsar technology that we use for the standard 'blaster' uses large quantities of ATP that are loaded into thin-crusted metal balls. Before firing, the ATP receives a very intense charge of energy. Upon impact with a target, this energy is released, resulting in an immense energy shock--not to mention the damage from the metal shards themselves. The shielding system absorbs the vast majority of the energy releases, meaning that while some damage is sustained from the physical impacts of shells and some energy shocks, the ship remains un-harmed. Until... the shield's capacity is exceeded. Over a period of time, the shield can slowly release some of the energy it has accumulated. But if it overflows, the hull of the ship takes damage, and the next step is total destruction.

We ran into a problem: once you start talking very large ships (Ex: 'Torchestrian' class), you're looking at shield systems that are practically invulnerable to normal fire. So what's the classic response to heavy armor? Bigger weapons. Super weapons. Thus we began to dabble with Plasma weapons.

The Plasma Bolt is a pure plasma field, that is, it is comprised of nothing else. When it hits a target, the immense energy contained within it is released as the Plasma is absorbed by the ship's shield. This takes down the shield much more rapidly than normal weapons would.

The Electus Torpedo was the first idea that we had. I had been talking to a director whose film I am contracted to compose music for (he's a super technical-savvy guy!), and we got to talking about the fact that some of our characters have obtained access to the Electro-Magnetic Force. He asked if we had thought about the possibility of using that access to create attacks on Magnetic Bonds; if you were to direct such an attack at, say, a person, they would disintegrate!

This was an interesting idea--and we decided to take things to another level. Thus, the Electus Torpedo was born. It would be about five feet in length, and six inches in width at the center, narrowing to a tip at either end. The Plasma Field in this weapon contains the energy that would unleash this attack. The Plasma Field would make contact with the shield system of the ship, and would be absorbed. However, the energy attack would now spurt out of the end of the Plasma Field, by-passing the shield system for the most part. The result is disastrous to any ship--a jagged hole is blown open, and the damage continues to spread slowly for several seconds after the initial effects, like chemicals eating away at styrofoam (now that is super-creepy to watch... I've seen it happen in a science experiment!). In addition to all of that, the shield system also takes a dreadful knock.

If you're in a fighter, you could use a short-range, highly ballistic missile on the Electus Torpedo, but you have to be careful, as the Plasma would disintegrate, the missile would explode, and if you don't dodge soon enough, you will fly right through the matter contained within the Plasma Field. Oops. Picture whole chunks of the ship simply ripping away from it, a ring of fire passing over the body for a moment, and the twisted, blackened chaisse flying to pieces.

While you could easily equip a large battle-ship or mobile base unit with guns that could generate Plasma Bolts for combat, no craft would be carrying more than three Electus Torpedos at any given time. Each Torpedo is contained within its own Capsule. The Capsule is pretty much a metal canister; each end is left open, the Torpedo being held in by magnetic rings that semi-seal off the ends. You have your firing tube (which is also used for any other heavy weapon), and when you engage the Electus Torpedo firing function, the unit containing the Torpedo canisters is rolled up to the Firing Tube. A canister is rotated into the Firing Tube, and a large charge of energy is compacted behind the Torpedo. The fore-magnetic rings are opened, the energy lashes outward, and the rear set of magnetic rings slames forward, launching the Torpedo toward its target.

Whew... that was about a month and a half of planning. Not easy!

Facing the Block

Well, things have definitely been crazy around here--a litter of piglets, school is starting in just over two weeks, the 4-H club is planning a trip to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, etc., etc. Music is really taking off--I'm still scoring a film (I need to come up with a different blog or something for that). So that's been taking up a lot of time.

But lately, I must confess, I have been dealing with writer's block: the inevitable monster that claims the pen of every writer at least once during their career. It started coming up on me as I struggled to finish up Chapter 14, and hit me full force as I began Chapter 15. I think I've finally conquered it, though. I'm almost finished with page two this afternoon--I'll have to stop soon so I can get in worship-time with the rest of the family and maybe get in a drive with Dad. Gotta love it when our guardians take time off so we can connect--especially in the stage of life that I'm at right now.

Forging Ahead

It's been a long time since I last posted on here. Too long, actually. I'll bet you're wondering if I've fallen asleep at the anvil. Well, I haven't. And neither has God. I've been busy--I do film composing, and there've been a few projects that have been coming up that require work. In addition to that, I've also got school that I'm gearing up for, and the County Fairs with my mom's Dairy Goats (www.sequoiawood.com)

But all in all, as exhausting as this summer has been, it's been a good one. Well, if you could call it a summer! I believe there have been less than ten days this year that broke one hundred degrees--even right now it's only eighty-two, and it's the middle of August! The heat of the Forge is welcome, then. :-)

What have I been working on lately? I joined a critique group called "The Anomalous Sandbox" a bit back, and got my original Prologue critiqued. Very humbling. Very constructive, and appreciated, but it really helped to put things back into perspective. I'm not Tolkien, I'll put it that way. But then, I'm not writing like a two-year old, either. There were some grammar and mechanics problems cited, but I started applying them right away in my next chapters. I also added a chapter that would come even before my original Prologue; the new one introduces a character who will pop up occasionally in the first couple of series, and becomes your main character once you reach the fourth series, "The Sect Wars". I finally pushed on ahead in my chapters, writing my way along through Chapter 10, which I finished about the middle of last week. your first eight chapters introduce the entire setting, giving you the background, where things are at in the struggle, etc. They also introduce you to most of your key characters, including Richard Holmton, one of your Main Characters. Chapter 8 ended with one of Richard's friends, Paul, leaning forward with the words, "Richard, it's time to take charge. You were made to do it." Thus, the end of all down-time is signaled. Chapter 9 introduced a completely new twist to the whole story; you meet your second MC, Joseth Gornath, and his family. Richard is on your "Light Side", while Joseth ends up being conscripted into your "Evil Side", the Trojans (yes, decendants of the people of ancient Troy, from the Iliad). A quick dinner scene, including a prank played by Joseth on his wife, Liciana, terminates with some devastating news. Joseth ends up in an argument with his father, Asius, over whether or not he will join the Trojan ranks. That night, he has a dream which will prove prophetic over the course of the next four books of many things to come. In the morning, troops arrive to escort Joseth to the fortress in New Troy, and things don't go over so well. Thus ends Chapter 10.

Everything is beginning to escalate quite nicely--the original outline looked a lot more action-packed than what is coming out, mostly because it's the key scenes of action that I end up building my story-line around. I note those down, and run with my ideas as I go along and as the story builds itself. The only conversations written down or noted are the ones on which the plot hinges.

Next will come Chapter 11 the exact content of which I have yet to decide upon. I believe it will contain Joseth's conscription into the Trojan forces. Chapter 12 will revert back to Richard Holmton, and we will see him and his friends being trained by the often crusty, occasionally mischevious, but very seasoned and always grave veteran Spartos (his personality is sometimes reminiscent of Yoda). Don't believe me? Just wait until the books come out! Yes, I know--it's quite the combination of characteristics, and a superb recipe for loads of fun. Saying of which, I have to say--he is probably the funnest of all the characters to work with!

I also began an outline for Xor: Retaliation, the fourth book in the series "Xor Sector". It will be something of a tragedy--your hero, Vargus, succeeds in fulfilling his mission only to find that he is too late to save the Shadow Organization. (Xor actually means Shadow. In the words of one: "Few are the Shadows of Light; even fewer those with the wisdom to seek them." A quote from the fifth book, "Shadowcloak", and riddle of a passphrase.)

Back to the Beginning

I figured I'd take a break from Xor for just a little bit. 'The Dead Civilization' still needs tons of work... I'll probably end up re-writing some of it. You know, being an author is kinda tough. You may write something, but it seems like 50% of the time it doesn't stay that way... or else just gets tossed. I'm re-writing my Prologue chapter to the whole saga right now... I think that I've finished it. Some action--lots of talking and discussion. A few quirky ideas introduced to perk the reader's interest, and some action to get it all started. I got a critique the other day for the original 'Prologue' chapter; that was really good. Very fruiful, in my opinion. It opened up some new ideas for me... including the idea of using a different approach to the whole story.

Everything is coming along well... now if I can just put this huge jumble of ideas into something resemblant of order. Ha! Good luck, I tell myself. But at least I'm learning. Slowly, but steadily. The learning process sure is painful, though. I'd be glad to skip it. But then, there are benifits. If I just knew everything by instinct, I wouldn't really know anything about what I'm doing. Whereas when I'm learning new stuff and trying to apply it, sure it's slow! But it definitely gets alot more ingrained. And it helps show me once more just how powerful God really is... that helps shrink the whole thing down to size.

Don't off-topic ramblings just amaze you?

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...