“It’s been a while” Panahihou said, breaking the silence.
Maramawhā nodded, rising.
“Wait” Feluz said, his eyes widening, “She’s the one who broke you out?”
“Indeed” Panahihou said, “Which means she’s come here to claim the favour I owe her.”
“You don’t owe me anything” Maramawhā said, “I didn’t save you from that prison to replace it with another one.”
“Good, then we’ll be on our way” said Panahiho...
2017-07-28 11:46:18 +0000 UTC View Post From the tower window, Hiruhāramānia seemed like the most pristine, idyllic work of art. A single building forming an entire city, each house a chamber within a much greater edifice, each street a corridor, each plaza a hall. Each citizen - each family - a cohabitor, technically in the same house as the prince himself.
Raiti, however, knew better.
She had first seen Hiruhāramānia in its full splendour 64 four years before, from that v...
2017-07-28 11:43:50 +0000 UTC View Post “Well, here we are” Panahihou said, craning his neck.
Both planeswalkers had chosen a good starting point: a slope in the Plateau’s outer mountain rim, overseeing the juncture between the great Ingikiwai river and the Wairepomango swamps.
Even in the darkness before dawn, the flowing waters of the Ingikiwai shimmered in green tones like an emerald, until they reached the trees. There, they suddenly lost their movement and their she...
2017-07-28 11:41:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Your Majesty,
It has come to my attention that you believe that I favor the Tohunga Ahurewa’s authority over yours. You appear to believe that I am undermining your sovereignty, “in the most obvious coup imaginable”, and that I intend to replace your authority with what you call “a conservative puppet chaining the Empire to oppression and antiquity”.
Rest assured, in at least this regard you are mistaken. To these ends, I wo...
2017-07-28 11:39:00 +0000 UTC View Post Maramawhā opened her eyes.
“He’s here” she said, rising herself with her staff.
“Do you know where he is?” Te Māī said, as she kept carving the albatross wing bone with a pounamu knife.
“Yes” Maramawhā responded, “He is on the Wairepomango, though not where I guessed he would be.”
Te Māī snorted contemptuously. If Maramawhā noticed, she didn’t react to it at all, which made the chief of the Kauri Moko wish she could...
2017-07-28 11:35:13 +0000 UTC View Post A small sliver of sunlight passed through the window, their lids open. It landed away from Panahihou's eye, but still he felt it, he felt that small dart pinch his shadows like a mosquito bite. He grunted, an unpleasantly raspy noise, and rose his head. His eyes opened, but a nictitating membrane kept a final barrier between the unholy blue and the mostly natural black.
Effortlessly, he grabbed the ray like a string and crushed it, his shadows stalling d...
2017-07-28 11:32:32 +0000 UTC View Post Music flooded the air, as it always did in that bar.
Normally Panahihou would at the very least enjoy the rhythm of the drums, feel his blood quicken with every shout and give in to the ravenous cruelty of the lyrics. Even something like a serenade or a calm erhu score would normally be appreciated; if it didn't touch his black heart or at the very least calm his neurotic impulses, it'd be worthy mocking. No song was truly bad to him, and he trave...
2017-07-28 11:28:02 +0000 UTC View Post Maramawhā awoke from her sleep, disturbed. She dreamed of her first planeswalking, of the violence of her tribe's demise, of her desperation to not be captured, of the trust she felt she broke, even when her own life was at stake. It was by no means the first time the penguin-like Aven had relived those moments in her sleep, but it never felt so real before. That it came after another incident earlier that night settled it as a serious matter.
She...
2017-07-28 11:23:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Maramawhā
The Hoiho mystic known as Maramawhā is native to the plane of Matahouroa. Like most of her kind she was a native to Inanga, where she lead a normal but unsatisfactory childhood, her desire to explore stiffled by the necessary secrecy of her people. One day, in her late childhood, she meditated under a Kauri tree, attempting to connect with its spirit. This lead to a momentous epiphany: she witness a glimpse of th...
2017-07-28 11:18:37 +0000 UTC View PostWhen mankind arrived to Hinawahine, five great statues were carved, to mark and celebrate their own homeland and to establish holy places where the realm of the gods would be closest to mankind. These statues, the five Moai, have dotted on Matahouroa places where the power of the divine realms flows through, creating immense pools of mana widely sought after by just about any mage on the plane – and visiting planeswalkers. The individual Kahuna orders ...
2017-07-28 11:10:52 +0000 UTC View Post Manaia (Merfolk; Black, Green and Blue)
The Manaia are Matahouroa’s merfolk, their lower bodies those of seahorses and their mouths with a distinctive beak instead of teeth, akin to that of parrotfish, hidden by the lips. Their civilization extends all over the plane, spread beneath the waves, but the sea around Hiriwa is an important location for the Manaia, drawn to the Scolding Moai’s power. While they have public good relat...
2017-07-28 11:02:55 +0000 UTC View PostMatahouroa’s islands are inhabited by various bird races, whose history extends to immemorial times, thought to have flown in from faraway lands in the global oceans. Most of these have quickly adapted to the spread of the Empire, while others have become bitter enemies, or have preferred to cut off their ties altogether. A few have also seemingly gone extinct, a reminder that even the efforts in the memory of Sawaiki don’t always prevent exploitatio...
2017-07-28 10:54:13 +0000 UTC View PostMankind's history before the Empire is poorly understood, largely due to the absence of writing prior to it. Legends from time immemorial state that humanity once thrived in the island of Sawaiki, the ancient paradise, where men lived without the fear of disease, old age and other ills, where food was plentiful and the gods always favorable. However, legends say, mankind grew proud and warlike, desecrating the sacred forests until they were nothing but ...
2017-07-28 10:31:23 +0000 UTC View Post “Long ago, mankind lived in Sawaiki, the northernmost island in the vastness of the sea. It was the Paradise that we’ve lost, and the Paradise that we will reclaim.”
- Raiti, the Tohunga Ahurewa
Matahouroa is a plane covered by vast, fathomless oceans. These oceans are dotted by many islands and archipelagi, forming patterns on the fast waters. The largest and most notable island system is Hinawahine, the “gray haired wom...
2017-07-28 10:26:41 +0000 UTC View PostMatahouroa was a project I worked for in many years. It is a homebrewn plane for Magic: The Gathering, which I wove into a novel of sorts.
Displayed on other sites before (most notably No Goblins Allowed), I think it's time it graced my Patreon. Entirely free of charge, of course:
(Based on Terryl Whitlatch's book.)
FADE IN:
2017-07-27 02:10:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Glory be to the rising Sun,
As a falconid phoenix born,
Expelling the grasp of Apep!
Great raptor at the dawn so primal,
Wings of light stretching and burning,
Solidified into a corona divine!
First expression of Khepera’s light,
Bane to the servants of the night,
Orange flames upon guilty flesh!
Lord of the fiery sky,
Sibling of destructive Set
And dark Nephtys!
Ra’s will on Earth manifest,
Sun crown and moon bow
Winter Sun
Basking in you feels so cold,
Wind runs in and out my nose
As the air is tight on my lungs,
Breathing at mercies so weary,
The watery abyss below closing,
Closing in as a swamp forms in
My tired mind.
But ironic are the feelings
In my heart: as you dim,
As you grow old and shine less,
I feel closer to you, closer as
You come down: hearth, it so
Feels, like you’re a pyre, like
<... 2017-07-24 08:30:18 +0000 UTC View Post
The Sun rises, filling the waters with light. The stream becomes silvery in tones, reflecting each side of your glory. There you stand, transparent and distant, yet ever burning like coals or the Shamash above you risen. It washes your built, not impurity removed, but ardor and rays to the cold water added, your power and reason in the moving infusion.
Why, though? Why these nascent springs, flowing fourth back and front between my ventricles? W...
2017-07-24 08:24:52 +0000 UTC View PostThe anthology "Eight Years Of Light And Dark" has just been published on Amazon Kindle.
Remember, you can also access most of the individual poems and stories here.
2017-07-18 17:30:49 +0000 UTC View Post
One of the few paintings (only three recovered) I did in my entire life, way back in 2009. Recovered it thanks to my old DeviantArt files.
It is meant to be a flamingo skull.
It will be the cover art for my anthology.
2017-07-13 06:47:25 +0000 UTC View PostUraguari woke up.
It was dark around her. In spite of it, she decided she couldn't sleep, couldn't feel still enough even in the absence of light, so she walked out of her den to enjoy a breath of the cool night air.
She did that as silently as she could possibly do, for her partner was still asleep, curling against a massive pelt that served as their bed. That particular pelt, which Uraguari got for her soulmate as a gift, belonged to a mastodon, an old bull know...
2017-07-12 15:45:56 +0000 UTC View Post On this shore of
So arid rocks and cliffs I so
Alone stand, the mighty
Ancient sun's light ever
So strong, having burned away
Every blade of
Grass, every breath of
Life once drowned by death.
In my front the sea
Roars; it is cold and
Opposes the chthonic sun;
Now on the western
Horizon it sets
And the cold moon comes and
The star's place it won.
Alone, nor dark nor light
I think, I ...
From the beginning of time
That I've roamed the world
From the beginning of time
That I've ruled supreme
Under my vast open skies
The great Earth I shaped
With my bare hands
And in the very last day
I looked unto the beauty
That only a father can appreciate
For I've molded the clay
And Adam came to life
U...
2017-07-12 10:23:20 +0000 UTC View PostOnce upon a time there was a peaceful barnyard were the animals lived happily in pure harmony, where they even had the honor of being selected and killed by the farmer. It was incredibly pleasant, with onions.
One day, however, two ducks unwittingly induced a most curious chain of events.
Their egg clutch was almost perfect, and all the ducklings were cuddly and healthy. There was, however, an exception. One egg, instead of white or brown, was instead of glistening alab...
2017-07-12 10:16:35 +0000 UTC View Post Many people go around defending cetaceans and wolves, saying they are misunderstood and endangered. While some cetacean and wolf subspecies/species are in fact endangered, people only focus on the american grey wolf and iconic cetaceans like the bottlenose dolphin and the humpback whale. Considering how none of said animals is in fact endangered, it seems rather silly to me that they're the icons of preservation.
On the other hand, there's a decent...
2017-07-12 09:32:14 +0000 UTC View Post My God is a god of war.
My God's wrath extends
Beyond the boundaries
Of an universe this frail.
My God is written like I
see Him to be; a tyrant,
Sitting upon this lesser
World, mocking all like
He always did; creator
Or not, He is probably
The worst sperm donor.
My God is worshiped
By nearly all of mankind,
Many names He wore &
Wears still: Yahweh, Allah,
Lord, Savior.
To my God, miracles and
Feats a...
Darkness. Endless darkness.
Once, their eyes were blue like the sky at midday. Now, these are burst bubbles, lips of flesh beneath their eyelids. Their tear ducts still work, and they stream down their face, alongside with blood and the last drops of the vitreous.
Sitting on the corner of the room, they hugged their knees, hiding their broken body, trying to unite what pieces remained remained in futility.
They didn't know how...
2017-07-12 09:14:25 +0000 UTC View Post I find myself,
Standing in a shore,
In those cliffs well
Above the sea.
And I feel a mere
Currrent,
Driving the chariot
Of the gods,
And here comes the
Rising wind.
You present yourself,
I present myself;
You stand below in
The boat of Charon
And I descend,
Song of the same sea
We all came from,
And the wind keeps
Blowing.
We now stand in the
Park,
While we learn what
Drives us forwards;
The vulture, for some reason, is evil to the eyes of this modern culture. Just because it feeds on the dead, just because it soars before those who died.
It is rather unfair to show such a magnificent, noble bird as evil. The vulture does not kill for food, the vulture cleans the Earth from the illness of death, of the carcasses that lie on the mountain, savanna, desert, scrub. On Eurasia, Africa and the Americas, two families of unrelated birds ca...
2017-07-12 08:17:54 +0000 UTC View Post