“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
Mark Twain
Now fully clothed in wolf and hare fur, I wondered what people would make of me. I think we would be making some interesting first impressions when we eventually made it back to civilisation if we made it back to the compass kingdoms. The clothing was fairly rudimentary, but it was functional enough for us to begin travelling again.
It was going to be a long walk.
2023-10-25 10:18:22 +0000 UTC
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“Hunger is the best sauce in the world,”
Don Quixote, Miguel De Cervantes
Namir’s POV
I awoke to the smell of roasting rabbit, or rather, I was awoken by the squirming of Nyx attempting to escape my clothing and attack the roasting rabbit. Rather than risk myself or, more importantly, in this weather and our current climate, my clothes being torn up in the process, I hurriedly released her.
She shot forward with a jump and short flight to settle...
2023-10-24 12:18:28 +0000 UTC
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“If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one.”
Confucius
The first thing my senses picked up were the mana signature, and the presence of Nyx huddled within Namir’s robe as his chest rose and fell. He must have taken to carrying her while I was unconscious. My senseless body would have been unable to protect her as it bounced up and down on his back if she had been placed between us. She slept soundly through our conversation and continued to do...
2023-10-23 17:40:57 +0000 UTC
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Ambience music for reading the chapter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhvyGiJs120
“Tough times never last, but tough people do.”
Robert H Schuller
An unknown number of days later, or at least it would have been without the system, Time Sense had kept track even if I had not, but that was not my first thought as I regained consciousness. Where was I? How was I alive?
...
2023-10-22 11:40:55 +0000 UTC
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“When you are in the eye of the storm, you are often not aware of the whiplash around you.”
Hugh Bonneville
Suddenly, Namir and I broke through the darkness into the sunlight. Looking up, I could see a clear sky above us, but we were surrounded on all sides by walls of ominous dark clouds whirling around the clear patch we had broken through into.
The eye of the storm.
On land, the centre of the eye might have been the calmest part of the storm wi...
2023-10-09 22:18:51 +0000 UTC
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"Rough waters are truer tests of leadership. In calm waters, every ship has a good captain.”
Swedish Proverb
It’s said a smooth sea never made a skilful sailor. This morning’s sail had been smooth and speedy. But as we headed south to Little Wester, the weather turned. Luckily, despite his early start, we had already caught up to my father before the weather turned too wild, and we were not too far behind now. However, the rougher water put an end to some o...
2023-09-26 18:53:30 +0000 UTC
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Good morning, afternoon or evening,
September has been a bit of a bust, with only one post so far. I am hoping for more, but wondering if the stress of producing is paralysing me a little. So I am pausing payment for October to hopefully balance this out a little bit, and I will keep writing and posting for the month.
My list of excuses for September is as follows:
Return trip to UK & Jet lag
2-year-old with Jet lag for a week, no joke up every night
Returning to w...
2023-09-26 18:33:58 +0000 UTC
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“You haven’t lived if you haven’t sailed.”
David Sedaris
I sailed accompanied by Nyx, followed by my father and a ship full of the former enslaved, now sailors under the Silversea House banner, toward Wester Levante. I continued to map the sea floor but failed to find anything new. Faced with the daunting task of sailing the ship alone, I did not have time to make the map while holding the helm but reassigned it to a mental me to take care of within my mi...
2023-09-11 22:15:32 +0000 UTC
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… just delayed.
We flew back from America over last couple of days via Ireland.
I used to be able to write on planes trains etc but baby boy has reached terrible two year old stage early and requires 24/7 supervision, engagement and distraction when travelling internationally.
Once over the jet lag I hope to bounce back into the writing before I have to go back to work.
Story ideas always welcome
Night
N
2023-08-28 20:14:44 +0000 UTC
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“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the word and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
Antoine de saint exupery
. . .
Some patrons were interested in music before, so here are some tracks I listened to while writing + Research on boats ...
Chapter 205 Music and Research
Optional music – boat building
2023-08-22 05:01:10 +0000 UTC
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“Remove the emotional and physical clutter from your life so you can soar.”
Judith Orloff
I’d told them. . .
I’d told them it all, yet it made no difference. . .
I was still loved despite remembering a past life. The concern and fear that I would be cast out of the family or hunted down and killed were wasted worries. It is sometimes said, ‘It’s not paranoia if they are actually out to get you,’ but in this case, with my family at least,...
2023-08-20 19:20:12 +0000 UTC
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Several people requested a repoll or found choosing a single option difficult.
So here it is again. :D
I feel chapters 201, 202 and 203 covered coming clean, quest and kingdom building. There may be another prep chapter to write about advisors and their opinions on the quest (But not every other reveal), So this is the same poll without the three options I'd like to think we've covered.
(IRL - still waiting on the last of 5 missing bags to turn up (੭•̀ω•́) but trying...
2023-08-13 17:03:58 +0000 UTC
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“Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.”
Elizabeth I
In for a penny in for a pound, if I was coming clean, I might as well come completely clean. They had supported me this far. Why not the whole distance? So far, I had covered my meeting with Fortuna and the fact that I remembered a life in a different world without magic. Next up were my Tier 5 skills. While my internal monologue distracted me from the current mome...
2023-08-13 05:46:34 +0000 UTC
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Optional Music - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ_fkw5j-t0&list=PLsOmb1C5jfLPAq9h3qEiCxAO4xdnMbfew&index=6
“You have so many layers that you can peel away a few, and everyone’s so shocked or impressed that you’re baring your soul, while to you, it’s nothing because you know you’ve twenty more layers to go.”
...
2023-08-10 02:03:39 +0000 UTC
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“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
Mark Twain
Life was going well; trade was continuing to grow between the three islands of Wester. Pearls, salt and purple were still our chief exports to the wider world through Mercurio, Kashif and the Church. But within our local islands, we were now producing enough staples and fruit that fish was no longer the sole meal everyone ate. We continued diversifying by developing our lines of wine a...
2023-08-08 19:03:02 +0000 UTC
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The longer the story goes, the more threads there are to write about. What would you like to hear about next?
Feel free to add options I have forgotten to mention or just personal requests.
Notlimah
(IRL - still hoping luggage will turn up (੭•̀ω•́)੭̸*炎炎炎炎炎炎炎!!!)
2023-08-05 20:58:44 +0000 UTC
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“But it is one thing to read about dragons and another to meet them.”
Ursula K.Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea
I rushed up through my tunnels. Having lost track of time in my lair, I found the Silversea family all at dinner. Namir and Lady Acacia, as usual, joined us as part of our growing house. It was not completely unheard of for me to be unable to find when I let time get away from me. With Nyx asleep, it was not immediately apparent why I had rushed to see...
2023-08-05 16:21:35 +0000 UTC
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Which would you prefer?
Dragon name and gender.
Female = Nyx
Male = Nox
Welcome to suggest others, but heads up, I quite like these two.
2023-08-01 23:05:59 +0000 UTC
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“It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
“Bala Nerano.” I went through the motions without really paying attention to the class. Most of the spells came automatically.
With everything finally taken care of . . . Who was I kidding? There were still a million and one things to plan and execute, but with the envoys having departed and the Neriad settled, it was time to focus on my pet project. My Drag...
2023-08-01 23:00:04 +0000 UTC
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“What you discover about life’s shell game is that it’s hardest to follow the pea when you’re the pea.”
Robert Breault
As we watched the two envoys set sail together, I mused that the pea that was the hardest to follow in the shell game of your own life; was yourself. I had so many irons in the fire that most of them had cooled, and I had lost myself in the morass. I was still moving forward but had lost the drive and focus along the way. My little king...
2023-07-31 23:00:57 +0000 UTC
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“I consider no man to be a magician unless he can perform the cups and balls.”
Houdini
Lord Larimar’s envoy, Sir Roland Ravenswood, stalked back and forth in anger across his small captain’s cabin. There was not enough distance to get into his stride, leaving him frustrated, much like this entire debacle. The child had left Wester Ponente, but he was not on Wester Levante or Little Wester like some sort of shell game; the pea had disappeared. This was imp...
2023-07-29 18:19:58 +0000 UTC
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“How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is so clearly Ocean.”
Arthur C. Clarke
In the underwater tunnel, lit by the bioluminescence of the creatures living there, Arawn grimaced for a second at the uncomfortable intrusion of the seawater, but a second later, he was breathing in and out comfortably underwater. The miracle elixir gave him the ability to breathe without worry underwater. Something I desperately needed if the levelling of Iron Man wa...
2023-07-23 23:27:45 +0000 UTC
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“Still round the corner, there may wait, a new road or a secret gate.”
J.R.R. Tolkien
As the morning sun filled our sails, we approached the southern side of the aisle, hoping to find a new road or secret entrance to Wester Ponente. We had anchored below the horizon from Wester Ponente, so we had to start our approach in the middle of the night to arrive at the island with the morning light.
I had never explored the outside of Wester Ponente after the t...
2023-07-17 00:33:08 +0000 UTC
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“To stay ahead, you must have your next idea waiting in the wings.”
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Lord Larimar’s envoy Sir Roland Ravenswood stood on the cliff. Topped with silver hair and piercing blue eyes, the towering man stood watching and waiting for the wayward Lord Silversea to return. Lady Silversea may have felt herself clever in attempting to block by using the child’s name. However, using the child this way was a double-edged sword, especially if he co...
2023-07-08 20:28:37 +0000 UTC
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“Time and tide wait for no man. A pompous and self-satisfied proverb, and was true for a billion years; but in our day of electric wires and water ballast, we turn it around: Man waits not for time nor tide. Less judgement than wit is more sail ballast.”
Mark Twain
“If you had filled the upper deck, it might have risen straight up without rolling.” Arawn helpfully pointed out after the fact as we stood on the ceiling in the upturned hull. “The whole poi...
2023-07-07 08:20:57 +0000 UTC
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“The ocean is a storyteller, with secrets hidden in its depths and tales etched in its currents.”
Anon
“No, you’re not going.” The Neriad leader Huli had not minded when we were discussing the generalities of someone from his tribe finding the former tunnels of Zaravia but was less keen when it was his son Hulio who was the one volunteering. Thankfully all the deals had already been made with Neriad swimming or floating the goods up to the Alzena. So th...
2023-07-05 10:26:36 +0000 UTC
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“Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”
Dale Carnegie
“What do you have to offer?” Captain Kashif was keen to get to trading.
“The first secret of getting what you want is to know what you want.” He replied unphased. He turned to Arawn, the eldest of us all. “Why are you here?” he ignored Captain Kashif completely to focus on someone he possibly considered his equal, judging by his age.
Arawn shrugged, ...
2023-06-30 22:47:58 +0000 UTC
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“It's not down on any map; true places never are.”
Herman Melville, Moby Dick.
Our spiral uncovered nothing new nearby Wester Levante, so we continued to work our way outwards, spiralling further and further out into the vast expanse of the Azimuth Ocean in search of treasure and sunken ships. I say spiral, but we were still relying on the wind over manpower, so it was hardly a perfect curve with a fair few zig-zags from tacking against the wind or following ...
2023-06-30 20:16:26 +0000 UTC
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“Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.”
Pirates of the Caribbean
I was riding high, literally and metaphorically, as we moved back to the Alzena on Arawn’s shoulders. Having already spoken to the mayor and delivered our homing pigeons, we did not need to talk at length, merely reassure him that it had been taken care of, which it had, we hoped. Our arrangement worked for now; hopefully, he wouldn’t try anything else anytime soon.
“Time to get...
2023-06-18 01:14:34 +0000 UTC
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“The quality of our lives depends not on whether or not we have conflicts, but on how we respond to them.”
Thomas Crum
Baron Corus's POV
An infant! The new Lord Silversea was still a child! I had known it was a new house with a child as its scion, but somehow I had expected his minders to be in charge of the conversation and his decisions. However, after he was placed in his seat, they watched silently without intervention as he navigat...
2023-06-10 17:53:34 +0000 UTC
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