The Writing Thread

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by DAISHI

I'm having trouble understanding how this would form a cohesive narrative. Or is it not supposed to?

It is. Movies mostly work with the same premise, with the difference that 'text' is mostly 'dialogue'. Interdependency of text and pictures is well known in comics/ graphic novels (and described by Scott McCloud in "Making Comics"). If it still works with quite a different balance remains to be seen.

[Noname215]

Originally Posted by DAISHI

Which poets would you count among your favorite?

Frost, Shakespeare, Poe, and Hughes.

[DAISHI]

My query letter:

Agent
Agent Name

Dear

(blah blah blah droning on about myself)

I have written in various capacities. I was at one time contracted to write lore and background stories for Blizzard Entertainment, makers of the popular sci-fi game series, Starcraft, as well as its well know massively multiplayer game, World of Warcraft. As a historian in the making, in the midst of my dissertation in the realm of Native American spiritual experiences in colonial North America, crafting a narrative is half my job, in addition to the research that goes into the writing itself.

My light fantasy novel, The Dream Map, is a standalone work that comes in at 111,799 words. What follows is a brief description.

"I'm looking for maps of worlds that don't exist."
Maxwell Douglas was a dreamer, an underachieving student who preferred to focus on his art and fantasy books. It wasn't until an laboratory accident left him capable of opening a portal to another world, simply by looking at a fantasy map drawn from an old book, that he was able to live out the adventures he'd only read about. Aided by the science of his best friend Heidi, and the protection of a blue fire wielding princess named Katherine, he embarks on an epic sea voyage to arouse an ancient alliance of dragons. Armed with the blades of knights and the fantastic weapons created by the science of his own world, Max and his friends hope to drive back an awakened sorcerer whose ties to the dragons seem to reach beyond the borders of the dimensions. Along the way, he learns that war is far more terrible than anything he has read of in books, and that the greatest weapon he has is the affection he has for his friends.

As with many others, I'm looking for a shot. Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Jason Luthor

[DAISHI]

ES006 - "Black Sunday"
Name: Matthew McConnel
Age: 89
Classification: Delta

HISTORY
Matthew McConnell was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1922, shortly between the end of the first World War and the start of the second. Born under the occupation of the British army in Ireland, and a product of the rhetoric of freedom circulating throughout the world in the face of German aggression in WWII, he became a fighter in the military operations occurring in Europe. He was present on D-Day and demonstrated incredible skill, strength, tactical ability and speed. He was actually favorably compared to the American hero, Mr. Amazing [ES003] due to their comparative skills. Mr. Amazing always held the superior place due to his ethnicity and background, while McConnell suffered from discrimination and oppression within his own military ranks.

McConnell was also, unfortunately, captured in the European Theatre. At this time he was subjected to the Third Reich's Sephiroth Program, the same program that formed the foundation of the future SWORD agency. An attempt to understand super, supra and paranormal activity, Sephiroth sought to weaponize human, non human and unusual relics in the hope of developing new tools for the Reich to use against the Allies it was fighting. Because of his superior abilities as well as his regenerative healing factor, comparable with Mr. Amazing's, he was subjected to a series of experiments testing his limits and introducing him to mutagenic agents.

The end result of these experiments would never have a chance to be unleashed on the Allies, and the full scope of them is still not known. McConnell's experience left him in a state of suffering and mentally broken, a situation that would not be remixed by the British. He was returned to Ireland, subjected to the same discrimination he had faced previously, and landed himself in close alliance with local revolution groups hoping to establish home rule for Ireland. He established a name as a particularly effective resistance leader, and particularly violent, a reputation that led to his expulsion from the resistance groups he had previously found a home with. Rumors broke out concerning certain, unique capabilities he held. In addition to his previously held capabilities, he was demonstrating a "corruption", an ability to degrade biological and nonbiological matter in his presence, at will, which made apprehension by normal means impossible.

​In the late 1960s, standard SWORD agents were sent in to apprehend McConnell, although they were ultimately unsuccessful. Ever larger teams were deployed, all which McConnell resisted through a combination of his own powers and the terrorist group he was establishing, whose influence was spreading throughout continental Europe. A concerted counter effort was made by SHIELD, the paramilitary wing of SWORD. In addition to agents, Mr. Amazing led the team which began a series of combative efforts to break McConnell's terrorist group, Lamh Laidir. This would be the first of a number of encounters between the two and, although they would fail to apprehend him, would drive his group underground.

CONTAINMENT
To date, no permanent containment solution has been devised for holding Black Sunday. His strength allows him the ability to break through concrete and steel. Heavily reinforced walls are effective at containing him physically, preventing escape by battering the walls with his physical strength alone. However, the corruption effect that Sunday produces is capable of progressively deteriorating the walls of his room. This effect is slowest upon superhard metals but regardless of the nature of the wall, the corrosion effect will eventually be sufficient to allow Black Sunday to penetrate it via his superior physical strength.

​The current cell devised for him and previously used is located at Facility Abaddon, an imprisonment facility for the most unpredictable, dangerous and hardest to contain super and supranormals. The cell is a multilayered wall of diamond, carbon tungstide, concrete and titanium in interchanging layers that are seven feet thick. These walls are resistant to temperatures up to 1370 Celsius (2500 Fahrenheit) and could withstand a blast exceeding the detonation force of the Hiroshima bomb. Sunday is allowed no television but is provided a set of a dozen books once every month. 24 hour monitoring of his cell is required. Because of the corruption effect he produces, cameras must be changed once a week, as well as plumbing. Because IRIS bullets degrade before they can make contact with Sunday, they are ineffective at delivering a dose of IRIS blood to the subject. Similarly, blood transfusions are impossible due to the corruption effect. This makes indefinite detention the only method of containing Black Sunday.

​All method of food, book and other utilities conveyance must be done via conveyor system. All camera replacement must be done only with active ESP agents working to hold back Sunday until replacement is complete, a process that should not exceed one half hour. A replacement cell must be constructed once every three months, and Sunday transferred to it with the help of ESP agents. This is a costly and ongoing expenditure that has not proven entirely effective. Sunday can, at random, exceed the bonds of his agent handlers. The intensity of his corruption effect has also been known to tear apart the walls of his cell with little effort. Attempts to terminate the subject have all been ineffective. Like Mr. Amazing, his cellular regeneration capabilities seem to be beyond the scope of normal medical understanding. Gunfire is ineffective due to bullet degradation, as are all physical methods of attempting to kill Black Sunday. Energy based methods, such as lasers, have literally torn his body to shreds, only to have him regenerate. Incineration has only led to his regrowth from the cells that survived the process, with explosive force producing the same result. Regeneration time can take several months, but always occurs.

ADDENDUM
Black Sunday is the perfect counterpart to Mr. Amazing, nearly equal in strength, speed, agility and tactical ability. What Sunday possess that Amazing does not is a corruption effect, which appears like a black smoke coming off of his body. This field of smoke extends at will in what appear to be tendrils, and can begin immediate degradation of all surrounding matter. When contained to a cell, Sunday allows this field to expand to consume almost the entire room, cloaking it in black and beginning a corrosion process. Only those with heightened regenerative capabilities, such as Mr. Amazing, have any place in direct contact with Sunday.

Sunday can retract his corrosion field and regularly does so as part of his role as leader of Lamh Laidir. Uncorrupted, he appears as a male in his late twenties, a consequence of his cellular regenerative capabilities. He stands mid six feet tall, with bright red hair, a broad jaw and muscular frame, the equivalent of any Olympic level athlete or above. When in his corrupted state, Sunday appears to be consumed in black, like a walking ink blot, with no distinguishing features save the outline of his frame and musculature. Even his head appears rounded and smooth. At this time, his corruption field, the smoke tendrils he is typified by, become visible.

[DAISHI]

ES008 - "Tweak"
Name: Jacob Escobar
Age: 18
Classification: Alpha

HISTORY
Jacob Escobar is a young college student born in Philadelphia. A fifth generation Hispanic male whose ancestors dwelt on the border of Texas and Mexico, he has always been considered bright and fairly athletic. A lifelong fan of basketball and a player himself during high school, Escobar always seemed to have a streak of good luck. With a game on the line, he'd hit the winning three. Running on little sleep, his team would find a way to click. This streak extended beyond even sports. Team projects found ways to get done faster than normal, and people seemed to remember answers to tests better in his presence.

SWORD investigations picked up on this recurring phenomenon and had him brought in for investigation. In his presence, team performances by agents increased in effectiveness 22%. Mental acuity, physical reaction time and overall cohesion seemed to positively benefit. When Escobar was removed from their presence, performance levels dropped steadily over the next few hours..

Escobar was offered a chance to come onboard as a supplementary SWORD agent in exchange for college funding, an offer he and his family were excited to accept. In exchange for his silence concerning the agency and his powers, Escobar is allowed to live a normal life, interrupted only when SWORD requires a tweak to its performance abilities.

CONTAINMENT
No form of monitoring or containment is used on Tweak. Because of the passive nature of his powers, the lack of any negative side effects and the general sense that, as Jacob Escobar, he simply has astoundingly good luck, no ongoing monitoring or transfusion of IRIS blood is required. Jacob is part of the greater population whose powers fall beneath the threshold requiring monitoring or containment, and would nearly be classified Sub-Alpha and outside the agency's attention, if not for his tremendous impact on agent abilities in the field.

ADDENDUM
Tweak creates an aura around him, a passive field he has no role in generating, that causes astoundingly good luck to individuals but most especially groups. His designation, Tweak, is due to the fact that this field tweaks performance between members to optimal capacity, allowing groups to coordinate and function at levels higher than they would outside his presence. Agents seem to be able to anticipate the actions of their comrades as well as their enemies, and act cohesively in response. Devices function better, answers are arrived at more quickly, and agents have generally begun referring to Tweak's abilities as an inverse of Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go right, will go right."

[DAISHI]

ES002 - "THE HATMAN"
Name: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Classification: Beta

HISTORY​
Originally considered to be a myth, superstition or urban legend, stories of The Hatman (or simply, Hatman) increased throughout the 20th century and endure today. Hatman was originally brought to the attention of SWORD via an encounter made between a researcher's daughter and this being in the early 1980s. This was SWORD's first encounter with a paranormal being and a detailed investigation began in order to asses its ability to expand beyond the scope of its original mandate to investigate supranormal humans.

Hatman's various incarnations have been reported globally but for a stretch of the 80s were especially abundant in Benicia, California, United States, also the location of the researcher and a local SWORD facility. A town wide sweep was covertly conducted via the installation of various EMF, Infrared, and Full Spectrum scanners at various points throughout the city.

Activity was initially detected in the residuals form of 'portals', breeches in the dimensional wall. A cluster of activity was traced to a single house, where SWORD teams were deployed. Armed with standard issue weaponry thought to suppress supranormal powers, visual contact was made through full spectrum goggles, but capture was impossible. Hatman is capable of infinitely quick teleportation time and escaped SWORD team members.

It would be another decade before a second chance was had at capturing The Hatman. This time, SWORD agents were accompanied by ESP specialists capable of sensing and predicting paranormal phenomenon, as well as tachyon field generators that hindered The Hatman's abilities to create portals, though he remained almost invisible to the naked eye. Combined with interference created by ESP specialists, The Hatman was detained using a combination of tachyon weaponry and containment cells. His lack of a corporeal body mean that standard Ingles-infused bullets were ineffective.

​CONTAINMENT
Hatman is kept at Facility Mezuzah along with a number of other teleportation capable individuals. The cell in which he is kept is surrounded by a number of tachyon fields operating at varying frequencies that permanently inhibit his ability to teleport out. Surveillance is maintained by an observation crew on rotation every hour. All in-cell experimentation is conducted only by individuals in whom chemical suppression of the amygdala has been conducted, and even these individuals are to spend a time period exceeding not more than 20 minutes within the cell.

Hatman is in a small class of individuals known as Emotion Feeders. Specifically, Hatman is a fear feeder, whose powers grow in direct proportion to those in whom he inspires said fear. This emotional reaction seems to be unavoidable within normal humans even when viewed from distant, remote observation points, and The Hatman seems to be able to feed on this fear even from points that are separated by hundreds of miles. Because of this, observation teams are small, and on constant rotation. Even in-cell handlers do not seem able to endure his presence without the fear response for more than 20 minutes, despite chemical suppression of the amygdala. This reaction can occur in even shorter time frames, and all vitals of in-cell handlers must be closely monitored for emotional response. Should this occur, the cell must be abandoned immediately.

However, it is necessary for Hatman to receive some emotional sustenance. Because of this, a single subject is introduced into his cell to invoke the fear response. This requires no more than two minutes within his presence, and must be repeated four times a day. Chemically suppressed handlers are then instructed to remove the subject from the cell. Should Hatman feed for too long on too many individual's fear responses, it is anticipated his powers would grow disproportionately, enabling him to tunnel through his cell and escape regardless of the tachyon fields surrounding him.

​​ADDENDUM
The Hatman appears as a living shadow, standing seven feet tall, wearing a long coat or trenchcoat, as well as a top hat, cowboy hat or flat brimmed hat. Other elements occasionally gleaned from visual inspection are the appearance of a collared shirt or elements of a suit beneath the coat. However, his appearance shifts at random intervals.

​Hatman's primary power seems to be the ability to induce a tremendous sense of dread and terror in those he visits. He then feeds upon this fear, enabling him to create portals through which he can travel to distant places throughout the world. Relatively benign, he is nonetheless worthy of further research in order to uncover the exact source of his impressive teleportation abilities.

Though Hatman has often been described by the public as a ghost, he is better termed an inhuman. An extradimensional being, he does not posses the virulent fury of a demon, nor the qualities and characteristics typical of a human, or even the qualities of a deceased individual persisting within this dimension. His point of origin is unknown, and all attempts to contact him have been met with zero success.

[Saemunder]

The unfortunate child of an afternoon not spent doing other more important things. Perhaps it might amuse.

******

Here lies the grave of someone unimportant that with great merriment people around cheered internally when they saw his corpse. No one will mourn him for he justly received his dues when a ballista bolt impaled him to the ground. It was not this act which brought glee to the people that knew him; rather the fact that said bolt did not actually kill him. Perhaps the days events should be recounted in total so those that read will fully appreciate the cruelty he showed his fellow man and the general hatred he inspired in even the most pious man.


Madness had gripped the community. Like most days in this region it started out as wonderfully as anyone could expect; a light drizzle followed a minor smattering of hail. It seemed like the mood of the weather closely resembled the attitudes of the town; constantly on the defensive due to encroaching monsters. Set in an area of fertile land with fresh water it was the only real…well…anything in a land that was well known for it’s rocky outcroppings, plagues of evil denizens and the ever increasing threat of something worse coming from behind the white veil that enshrouded the north.


“Why me, why me?” whispered Jalyn as she attempted to scramble over the rock faces making her way home. She knew that venturing into the wilds could always be fatal but at times it needed to be done. How else could she get the berries she needed to make the pies and cakes that she was so well known for. Thankfully she had taken the regular precautions which only made some of the more conservative men in the area blush; a lady as fetching as Jayln should not be prancing about the forest wearing mens clothes. Especially since they believed that some of the evils in this region favoured young ladies; though no one could quite tell her if those evils lived beyond the city walls or within them. As Jalyn hurdled a branch she wondered why such a stray thought should enter her mind when in all likelihood she would not live to see another day. It was tempting too to drop the satchel that bore the fruits of her labour. By now some of the berries may be better suited for drinking than eating but she was determined not to drop the satchel; it would provide the money desperately needed for supplies for the coming winter. If the previous winter was anything to go by.


Keilen stood on the wall peering out, well it couldn’t really be called a wall. A gently rise from townside outward to a sudden drop, it was just good old fashioned earth but it was surprisingly effective at what it needed to do. As he looked over the edge he remembered how painful that drop could be, and also how lucky he was that it only claimed a bone in his forearm. As if to remind him not to be so cocky the first bit of hail plunged straight at his nose and ricocheted into his eye. “Of all the...” his thoughts were cut short as he spotted something trying it’s damndest to run at the town. It certainly would have helped not having a tear filled eye and a bruised one from some of the more…exciting activities late at night in the inn. Best thing to do he thought is raise an alarm, let someone else deal with the mess. Or atleast deal with it more accurately. The whistle he brought to his lips was made of bone, their old markings smoothed to almost nothing from all the handling it had suffered, it’s sound though was unique. Something the young ones loved to say was a sleepy baby dragon’s yawn, yet for such a mellow and low sound it cut through any noise and shook the air around it. More importantly it could be heard clear across town without alerting anyone approaching the town. It took a few moments for someone to arrive at which time Keilen had dealt with the offending bit of hail that attempted to blind him to see that the figure was indeed female, that…was the full extent of his deduction. Well he hoped it was female, it ran kinda weird, quickly but weird. The newest arrival with a keener set of eyes, less bruised at the very least didn’t so much pay attention to what was running toward the gate but rather what was chasing it. Instead of calling to the gate guards as he should have since Moraw knew it was Jalyn he was transfixed by the huge badger clawing it’s way across the ground to get at her, it must have come up to atleast his waist, maybe more. The only thought echoing in his head was “Dear god, what the hell is that?”. Thankfully Keilen’s sight miraculously improved, perhaps because of the figures rather close proximity, perhaps more the screams aimed straight at him “You bloody oaf, don’t just gawk! Open the gate!”. “What a curious scream for a monster” echoed Moraw’s thoughts, he was never known for his brilliance so when a rather intelligent thought did come into being it felt rather lonely.

[Saemunder]

Daishi, I like the idea of what the overall story is. The scene is well set out and easy to picture.

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

I even have an idea about a first 'short story' that hopefully sees life this year. The encounter of a troubled young man on a rather short autobahn trip, who meets some kind of a cop so peculiar in moral and deed that he scrapes the fantastic of the inspired benefactor as well as the autistic of the civil servant.

That instantly makes me imagine a juxtapose of something fantastical and something real world (almost the way old childrens stories or old folklore would twist what was real and not) alternating which is which as the story goes given the idea you gave Vainamoinen. I mean the pictures being either real or fantastical then changing as the story progress's or is needed, same with the prose.


Alcoremortis, I think you definitely write well, I enjoyed reading those stories. Chances are though that knowing the world in question brought the story more to life, not so sure what people unfamiliar to it would think.

Originally Posted by Avistew

I make things happen with my mind. Nobody knows. Nobody believes me. People die in my sleep. Please kill me.

I love that bit, just makes me imagine a game made on that kind of idea. The player would have to be the person saying that of course and it would have to be cleverly done to keep people in the dark about as much as possible.


Jennifer, I dislike how she knows that she was in an accident but I think that's just personal preference. It would be interesting to see how Julie would cope being trapped in that coma while "helping" out. Maybe more interesting if she ever came out (or lost her abilities) and suddenly people started dieing.

[Jennifer]

Originally Posted by Saemunder

Jennifer, I dislike how she knows that she was in an accident but I think that's just personal preference. It would be interesting to see how Julie would cope being trapped in that coma while "helping" out. Maybe more interesting if she ever came out (or lost her abilities) and suddenly people started dieing.

I was debating about that actually. I figured she'd know that she got hurt, and figure it out. But, now that I think about it, I had a concussion before and it's hard to think, let alone remember stuff. I'd imagine a coma would be even worse. I was going for the clueless angle anyway (for both Julie and the reader), as I mentioned before in this thread, so it would be better if she were totally clueless.

I've got an even more twisty idea worked out for the story, but your last suggestion would make for a great follow-up story.

[DAISHI]

I don't have too much time to respond to Saemunder at the moment but I did see use of the passive voice which is always a pet peeve I'll take better look at it later.

[Saemunder]

I don't pretend to even be good at writing so it's hard to pinpoint exactly what is brilliant or not especially if I think I could not have done better. I was hoping that in the meantime the brain would work and I'd be able to express it properly or more accurately. Your story Daishi, with the boat and dragon, I read all the way through without struggling to find a desire to read it. So it played well in my mind but there is something there that makes it feel...perhaps the right word would be incomplete. Perhaps because that scene sets a good idea for what is going on but lacks what feels like the person the story is focused around doing much. Kinda like a cutscene he's just there taking in the details, but that happens plenty of times in books because it's not just that one part we read that tells the story but the whole book so there are parts that while much is going on it still is meh when taken out of context. Anyhow that's the limit of what my feeble brain can come up with for what I wanted to add about that story. Stupid brain.

[RetroVortex]

I think Daishi's idea is great.
Definitely a lot of depth and lore to it.

I myself the other day was thinking about a story about body snatchers.
Well... Psychics who could posses other people, and the main two characters were two teens who develop these abilities (by switching with each other at first! XD), and after some goofy hijinks get recruited into a government agency to try to hunt down dangerous "body snatchers".

Their powers would have grown with each others presence, which would have been their main advantage over most other psychics. (So they kinda get stronger over time anyway, but because they are so closely connected they can kind of synchronise that psychic energy with each other as well)

One of their first targets is to track a known "body snatcher" who repeatedly "escapes" custody.
(Intentionally most of the time since he has a tendency to lead the agency to bigger leads)
He is at first hard to deal with because he has a secondary ability ontop of just mind control/possession, in a certain range he can remotely control certain body parts of others.
It's a limited ability and quite tiring of him, so even though potentially dangerous (with enough focus he could stop someone's heart), he normally only uses it to make his escape or gain a cheap advantage.

He's no good guy, but he's no monster. Just a bit of a cowardly rat with a big ego, and big greed.
(Who occasionally has a good idea. Well... Good for him anyway! XD)

So he would be a sort of re-appearing character. Eventually a nuisance, but sometimes oddly helpful.

...
Yeah that's all I got. I was just mulling a little over it at work.
Don't know if I'd want to take that idea any further, but it's decent enough to log for future reference.

[Alcoremortis]

Originally Posted by Saemunder

Alcoremortis, I think you definitely write well, I enjoyed reading those stories. Chances are though that knowing the world in question brought the story more to life, not so sure what people unfamiliar to it would think.

Yeah, recently, I've been exclusively been borrowing DnD and Pathfinder settings to write in, since I'm not a fan of world building. I can't even make an isolated town without wondering where the broader infrastructure comes from and such. Luckily Wizards of the Coast and Paizo are pretty good about allowing outside writers to borrow their settings.

And of course, if I ever get beyond the vignette stage of writing, I'll actually make an attempt at talking about the world around the characters. But for now, I find myself more interested in what makes a person tick. And for that reason, I'll probably end up writing mysteries.

[Vainamoinen]

Originally Posted by Saemunder

That instantly makes me imagine a juxtapose of something fantastical and something real world (almost the way old childrens stories or old folklore would twist what was real and not) alternating which is which as the story goes given the idea you gave Vainamoinen. I mean the pictures being either real or fantastical then changing as the story progress's or is needed, same with the prose.

I'd go for realism with the art if only I could, that much is for sure. And as to the philosophy of the narrative, the fantastical would be all on the cop's side, while the world around him should be as real as humanly possible.

[DAISHI]

Not sure how I forgot to post ES001! It's like, the most important one.


ES001 - "PATIENT ZERO"
Name: Jessica Iris
Age: 74
Classification: Omega

HISTORY​
The original Event Subject [ES] and the one to whom the modern success of the Supranormal World Research Detail [SWORD] is owed. In the early 1950s, a young girl, age 16, was discovered in Irving, Kansas, United States. She was brought to the attention of the United States government due to a series of mysterious incidents occurring in the region. Reports ranged from the mutilation of cows, to the dissaesmbly of machinery, mass hallucinations and the morphing of local terrain. Upon investigation, the source of the incidents were tracked to the young girl named Jessica Iris, from here on referred to as Patient Zero or Zero.

Zero's powers only manifested upon puberty and grew progressively stronger over the next few years, making her early life relatively uneventful. Detention occurred pre-SWORD, among the top military facilities within the United States. It was eventually found that while awake, Zero's powers were so strong that they manifested entirely without her knowledge. She exhibited a powerful ESP influence on surrounding minds and could alter physical reality at a fundamental. Under experimentation, it was found that even a small amount of focus could produce massive amounts of destruction. Two events, Zero Event One and Zero Event Two, were direct results of her active use of her powers.

Zero Event One, which was conducted in an attempt to see if her focused powers could be constructively used, led to the death of all individuals in the experimentation chamber. Upon seeing what she had done, Patient Zero entered a panicked state. In her emotional distress, she consumed the entirety of the military facility and the town site built around it, which was meant to disguise its purpose. All buildings, human, plant and animal life vanished, leaving a twelve mile crater. This larger incident was deemed Zero Event Two.​

Unconscious from such mass use of her power, Zero was retrieved from the site and transferred into the custody of the newly developing SWORD agency, charged with researching the escalating number of supranormal reports circulating throughout the United States.

CONTAINMENT
Further research determined that Patient Zero's abilities would continue to escalate as she aged. Because in a conscious state she was deemed too dangerous for either containment or release into the public, Zero was placed into a drug induced state that continues to this day. In her current state she exhibits none of the powerful, reality altering powers she did during her time awake.

​Zero is kept at Facility Zebulon under 24 hour surveillance. She is kept within a complex medical and production facility located 2 miles underground. The medical staff and operations are comparable to any standard hospital, with advanced equipment for scans such as MRIs and X-Rays. The facility deviates from a standard hospital facility in its production capabilities, which are meant to use Zero's blood for the weaponry used by field agents as well as transfusion into ESP subjects.

The facility is also under heavy guard. Members of SWORD paramilitary forces are on constant rotation through the facility and are stationed for periods of six months in Zebulon sleeping quarters. The elevator responsible for transportation of staff and machinery is the primary access with a secondary personnel elevator used for the transportation of staff only in emergencies. Access to the facility requires no less than six administrative keycards from the ten overseers of the facility, and the emergency elevator only activates with these same keycards or the engagement of Protocol Zero.

​Protocol Zero itself involves a series of nuclear devices implanted throughout the facility, set to detonate in case of Patient Zero's awakening. Should this occur, Zebulon staff has 30 minutes to evacuate the facility. Casualties are anticipated under such circumstances, whether due to Zero's awakening or the detonation of the nuclear devices.

ADDENDUM
Patient Zero's powers are anticipated to be near infinite and is one of only a very few Class Omega supranormals monitored by SWORD. Her ability to change the fabric of reality around her, induce mass hallucinations in large amounts of the population, and control the behaviors of those within her field of influence make her the single greatest threat SWORD monitors to this day.

However, she is also the reason for its success in its battles against other supranormals. Zero's powers include an inhibition field. When active, it is anticipated that her influence causes the powers of all other supranormal beings to become nonexistent. This influence is inherent within her blood, and is the reason it is a component of all SWORD agents' weaponry. SWORD bullets ignore almost all active fields produced by supranormals, be they telepathic, energy created, distortions of reality, and the like. Upon contact with a subject, the casing opens, depositing the blood within the target. This bullet transfusion inhibits the supranormal's powers until a more suitable, long term solution, often in the form of a constant blood transfusion, is settled upon.

It has also been observed that Zero's blood has an active effect on the normal population inverse to its effects on supranormals. Blood transfusion can induce temporary supranormal powers in a typical human, though the effect is random and cannot be anticipated unless performed under very specific conditions, which results in an ESP Agent.

​​​

[DAISHI]

Two more chapters on my book to revise and edit. SO CLOSE.

[Alcoremortis]

Okay, I've got a pitch. It's a short pitch because it was just a weird idea that popped into my head. Here goes: it would be a hardboiled detective type of story, with an emphasis on archaeology. The twist is that the detective is a mummy. Because who doesn't like well-preserved corpses? Probably the first case would be something to do with the mummy's tomb getting robbed and the mummy having to go extract hideous vengeance on the tomb robbers, all the while trying to navigate the modern world (or a more modern world, at least).

After that, I'd guess the cases would be given by other types of undead ("I suppose she could've been described as having a buxom figure, ruby red lips, and a look that spelt trouble, but only if I'd allowed my eyes to rot out and was going by memory. Well, except for the trouble part, but most ghouls came with that pre-attached.")

[RetroVortex]

Not sure yet if I want to make it a Videogame or a story, but I decided to dig up an old idea today and add a little onto it.

Right so imagine a futuristic universe combined with an almost old western twist.
Where entire planets are controlled by mega corporations, and many planets have been almost ruined by a massive intergalactic war.
Where bounty hunting is not only legal, but common place and supported by said corporations, even vital for their operations.
(Because the fallout of war, both the physical and the political (the factions fractioned off after the war was over) attracted opportunists and organised crime syndicates, many of which consist of ex-merinaries and soldiers, and people forced into crime out of necessity due to their livelihoods and homes being ravaged by the war)

Right so the story starts off in a distant world. A dark figure walks slowly through the desert dragging along something.
You see this figure walking past old ruined structures and buildings.
Eventually the figure reaches a massive dome structure.
A close up reveals a cloaked figure dragging a body to the door.
A robotic probe flies towards the cloaked figure and a red eye flashes from the hood.
"Identification please."
The drone scans the figure's face and immediately scurries off.
"Identification confirmed. Deposit bounty and Insert KREDITZ card to receive credit"
The figure then drops the body down a chute then takes off his hood and inserts his card.
Turns out the figure is an ageing human, appearing to be in his late 50s.
The cybernetic components on his body worn, almost antiquated and dirty from the sand.
His body and face covered in scars from years of fighting, but still very strong looking. As if he still works out.
This is our protagonist, a washed up old bounty hunter hunting low life's in a back ally of the galaxy.

He enters this almost utopianistic and ultra clean city, but he doesnt hang around and immediately heads down steps and lifts with purpose.
Down to the old district that's darker and more worn.

He heads to a small arm shop, where the dealer seems to be expecting him.
He turns around and heads back into his stocks and pills out a box of ammunition.

"You know this kind of ammo is gettin' real hard to come by. I had to almost beg the salvagers to sell it to me this time. That pea shooter of yours belongs in a museum. You know I can cut you a good deal on a 5000 serie.."

The old bounty hunter's eye flashes and he pulls out his card.

"Maybe another time then. Jack...."
"....you know... one of these days you're going to need to upgrade that arm holster of yours. It's getting harder and harder to get ammo for that 3260 model of yours..."

"...."

"Look Jack... You're still a good shot, and that arm of yours can still dish out a heavy hit. The ARMONI corporation is looking for as many bounty hunters they can get, and they pay alot better than freelance work, maybe you should sign up and get your kit looked at..."

"I don't work for no stinking corporation..."
He then takes his ammunition and walks off to a dingy local bar.

... So yeah. Alot to flesh out there, but basically the game/story is about this guy getting pulled back into the world of bounty hunting. You get to find out about this guys past ad how it relates to the present, and eventually the story evolves and escalates to epic proportions.

As a game, I'd like it to be a little open-world Ish, story wise, but then the levels/missions would kinda be mega man-Ish, fighting unique bosses and areas.

It would be a tale of survival, of heroism, and eventually revenge.

But so far it's all very basic. I got a kind of idea where I would like to take the story, drawing in those scifi and western influences, but no real specifics on paper.

Seems like it might be real fun to persue though, either way.

[Saemunder]

Originally Posted by Alcoremortis

Yeah, recently, I've been exclusively been borrowing DnD and Pathfinder settings to write in, since I'm not a fan of world building. I can't even make an isolated town without wondering where the broader infrastructure comes from and such.

Those worlds are rich with detail and very open to writing stuff for. I'm the same with towns, I remember as a kid thinking that building contractors must have been geniuses to build something so perfectly as to position all the needed wiring and pipes for future use. Never realised they just covered up what they needed to later on to make it look good and that it didn't start that way.
Btw, the mummy detective put Lawrence of Arabia in my head. The part where he says "The trick mister Lawrence is not minding that it hurts.".

Originally Posted by Vainamoinen

I'd go for realism with the art if only I could, that much is for sure. And as to the philosophy of the narrative, the fantastical would be all on the cop's side, while the world around him should be as real as humanly possible.

Well I say fantastical but that also includes anything just out of the norm for the two characters, something unlike what a cop would do, act or say. Would be interesting to see the story the way you envision it.


I feel sorry for patient Zero. It reminds me of Elfien Lied and FEAR, you just know shit will hit the fan one day with those kind of imprisonments.


And something I found, was written a while ago so I'll just blame that for it being the way it is. I think it was meant to give an idea for a game world though I'm really not sure, but I do know it's meant to be a pretty unforgiving story. Yes it's an apocalypse type thing but give a guy a break, wrote it when the news of the Hadron collider first started showing up, a good few years before zombies got to crazy levels.

--------

No one wants to remember how much of it began, perhaps too many bad memories or maybe some that remind of better times. Truthfully I'm sketchy on the details myself and I lived through it. Everything was as it should be, people went about there business content to live their lives in whatever ever way they felt too. In the news it was a historic time, we were possibly going to be able to see and look at things that we as humans never had the capability to until now. Many of course claimed that it was heresy. That we were looking into matters that only god should be privy to. That there wasn't enough caution to temper the insatiable desire to know. Whatever the outlook of many people it didn't affect the basic things of life on what needed to be done nor how to go about living so I always feel that regardless of the outcome now, the tests would always have happened. No one noticed anything on the first few trials of the mega collider, meant to allow scientists a chance to decipher the very beginnings of time and give a greater understanding of what the future may hold for us. All speculation about the dangers died. Life went on as normal.

Perhaps then it really was a shock then that we had actually changed the way physics works in our world. No one had of course noticed anything up till that point since there was nothing to notice. Maybe there was and we just weren't paying enough attention to it at the time. Life for myself had gone surprisingly well, well enough in fact to take that trip to parts of the world I had always wanted to visit. First off a trip to America. While there a strange occurance happened that not everyone seemed capable of noticing. A large distortion that traveled across the world. It was the largest sensation to hit the media for a long time. The questions they asked had valid points. Why were only some people capable of noticing it? Why did it seem to change some things yet leave others intact? Why were some people dead after this wave passed when no identifiable source of their demise could be identified? It was curious, it made us all curious and it probably kept many of the greatest minds occupied. What people should probably have been paying attention to alot more was the outbreak as I called it. It never had a name. By the time it was officially deemed an epidemic it was impossible to control or identify who was infected. Like rabies there was a way to see if a person was infected or not but that meant being able to have access to the said person's brain. Something that anyone alive isn't to eager to part with. The effects of this outbreak was what shocked everyone. They become ravenous, like ghouls or zombies that people had always seen in the movies. Rage and other lower base human functions were all that seemed to drive them. What was terrifying was the footage smuggled onto the news networks that showed not only how difficult these people were to take down but showed how they didn't really die at all. No one, no matter what they are on gets up after three quarters of their head is missing and you can clearly see a major lack of brain in the cavity left behind. Everyone panicked, a mass exodus of people trying to run the other direction broke out. It didn't help though cause these things were everywhere. That was also when the last wave passed over that I ever remember seeing. We had spent days just surviving, fleeing from one place to another. Always being chased, always having more and more people die. Some gave up, others took their own lives. In all the hysteria, all that confusion no one seemed to notice the large mounds of knotted flesh that clung to the darker places of streets. They scared the hell out of me, I knew something was living in them, just waiting to come out.

I remember months must have passed, many of those that once were alive were now dead. There wasn't that much screaming anymore in the night. People were getting used to just surviving, scrounging what you could from the dead. Hoping they wouldn't attack as you pilfered their pockets. The constant anxiety whenever you had to enter a building because you never knew what kind of horrors it held. Recently the latest of these abominations had been released on us. Monstrous being's, hideously misshapen, with great strength, durability and even abilities that no one even knew were capable of existing in our world. By this point much of what was taken for granted as working under our laws of physics stopped working. Atleast that's what I believe, how else do you explain a car with not a single mechanical fault, no damage and with petrol in the tank not working. The petrol still burned like petrol but it's like someone took the will out of the actual metal of the engine for it to function as it should. Solid state electronic devices that just stopped working, electrical wiring that no longer had the desire or maybe ability to carry current. Even ammunition wasn't always gauranteed to work. I remember several people around that time seemed to be making progress into what could only be described as magic. Able to create effects out of nothing with what might only be the power of the mind. Life got harder very quickly, if what had happened in the 3 months before seemed like hell, this was worse. The new horrors that came with seemingly endless numbers didn't always kill, not always did you know what became of the people captured. The few that I remember seeing made me wish I never had. Taken over, ranting to be killed, asking for forgiveness while something seemed to control them and eat them from the inside out. I think all of those controlled must have gone insane, gods I pray they did.

That's when things got hazy for me, maybe it was fatigue or not careing about being alive anymore. Maybe I wanted to die but I just remember feeling so tired. I think I saw some some of the horrors, some of the zombies. I can't remember if it was real or not. Fleshy something's, feelings of things creeping further, tendrils of unseen things that slithered between the nightmares. It felt like time passed, it felt like a terrible sleep that I couldn't awaken from. Next true thing I remember is standing in the street with a woman rushing to my side. I couldn't understand her but I remember feeling cold. I remember the feeling of fresh blood on me. As she draped the coat over my shoulders I remember looking down and thinking it was so strange that I was naked and how weird that big woman seemed to be. Later I was told I was out cold in the hospital beds for almost a week. They say they have no idea how a young boy survived for so long on his own out there but obviously some major psychological trauma must have been inflicted. The fact that I wasn't the age I remember took me by surprise, I looked young. Maybe 10 or so, the doctors said I was severely malnourished and exhausted. Now I'm trying to figure out what the hell happened, where did the time inbetween go? Why am I in this body? I know I have information they don't know about but they aren't too keen to listen to the rambling's of a child, atleast not yet.

[Alcoremortis]

Originally Posted by Saemunder

Those worlds are rich with detail and very open to writing stuff for. I'm the same with towns, I remember as a kid thinking that building contractors must have been geniuses to build something so perfectly as to position all the needed wiring and pipes for future use. Never realised they just covered up what they needed to later on to make it look good and that it didn't start that way.
Btw, the mummy detective put Lawrence of Arabia in my head. The part where he says "The trick mister Lawrence is not minding that it hurts.".

It's funny you should mention that because Lawrence of Arabia happens to be one of my favorite movies. I dunno why I came up with a mummy of all things. I guess I just like the idea of sticking undead into genres they shouldn't be involved in and vampires and zombies are overdone.

Also, prebuilt worlds are the most useful things ever. It's a lovely feeling to just research possibilities for where the plot might happen instead of inventing them and then stressing about whether or not the locations seem contrived. You know, as if the characters have been railroaded from the start and if they were to stray but a little, they'd fall of the edge of the plot. Sure, that's how it is, but I like to give the impression that there were alternatives for them. I always worry about it, though.