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Mohauk's OOC Thread

Started by Mohauk, August 16, 2009, 06:55:32 PM

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Mohauk

or... Homecoming

Well, long story short I had the urge to return to the Conclave after what must be almost a year now, and found it out of action. But this merely increased my enthusiasm (childishly wanting what I can't have) and now, having returned from a holiday in Spain (visit Barcelona, it's fab) I find it raring to go again, in what I suppose is yet another forced reiteration.

So... hi again. Who's still here? Apologies to anyone who I left horribly in the lurch by going MIA.

Anyway, I thought I'd start easy by reposting and then continuing a couple of my less awful solo threads to get back into things. No doubt in a week or so I'll have caught 'clave fever' and will join a load of RPs that I can't possibly sustain. Until then, however...

Incidentally, I'm not a huge fan of the red titling and stuff... but then I guess secretly I still long for the old days of green.

Anyway, I'll edit/reply when I've got together and posted some IC stuff. Enough ramble.

MM.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting...

Inquisitor Sargoth

 :o

Mohauk... You're.... back?

Things were barely ticking over on the old IC boards before the new one came in, and it's been a small blessing in getting things going again. Not many RPs around anymore, I'm sad to say, and with the new bvoard weve lost some people.

I want the Daemonologist to return; Aurea Mediocritas was put on hold by university, but the new 'clave has given me the impetus to carry on, after reposting an edited and improved version of what was there before.
One More Hit - A tale of addiction.

Dosdamt

 :o

8)

Glad to see you back and the return of The Daemonologist. Good times.
It is never too late! - Mentirius

http://thementalmarine.proboards.com/index.cgi <- The Mind, for all your irreverent nonsense needs

Kallidor

Excellent beginning, I'll look forward to watching this continue.
Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Mohauk

DAMN! Just wrote a nice long bit here and found that the forum logged me out and forgot it all. So, here we go again...

Nice to see I'm not forgotten! Thanks Ben and Stu - particularly nice to be remembered by the two people who inspired my original Clave writings.

As requested, Daemonologist is back. I'd actually completely forgotten about it but at your nudge Sargoth I went to have a read and found it wasn't all bad, and worth continuing anyway. I'm also planning to resurrect my other '-ist' thread, the Algophilist, which was an experimental bit of writing done purely for the unusual style which began to spawn potential for some interesting (to me) ideas and a potential plotline. But that'll be it, because two is more than enough right now.

Pity to see that the decline of the IC/OOC boards when I left (and thus contributed to  :-[ ) has continued. I often wonder if there isn't some way to recruit more interest. After all, this used to be part of what made the Conclave special, unique. And I remember the days of 20 RPs at a time of all shapes and sizes, with constant busy posting and hundreds of members. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any way to actively reinvigorate. Just have to hope, I guess.

For those who don't remember Daemonologist, it's a somewhat wandering exploration of daemons as an idea in the 40K universe. Though it will include a collection of various short stories, extracts and other bits and bobs, all united by the stated theme, it does have the spine of a central story. This follows the perspective of Achan Kolec, a Malleus savant specialising in daemonlore (as much as anyone is allowed to specialise in that most corrupting subject) under the apparently exemplar Inquisitor Zorua Ny Tyaernya. Kolec is also a preterspector, an unusual psychic ability which allows occasional and uncontrollable visions of the past through the warp. The themes explored, beyond that of daemons, hopefully include the complex and delicate relationship between Kolec and his Inquisitor, the basis and flaws of which will quickly become clear, and the nature of knowledge in the Imperium; the compartmentalisation, the cautious separation of do-ers and know-ers, and the deep-seated fear of knowledge in a society where ignorance is safety and most news is bad news.

I had already written and posted a fair few bits of The Daemonologist on the old(er) Clave, so before continuing with it I'll release it in more readable chunks of one or two posts. The first includes the unrelated prologue (interpret it how you will) and the first, introductory part of the central story. I am, you'll quickly gather, a fan of the complexity and arcana of Inquisitor, so any gratuitously made-up terms that you think need explanation, just ask...

Incidentally, I'm very interested to see what's being written Claveside at the moment so asap I'll get to reading and commenting on everyone else's stuff. Particularly interested to see the tinkered-with AM, Stu. I may well renew our gmail bouncing at some point if it's okwu.

Comments and criticisms oh-so-predictably welcomed!

MM.

EDIT: Thanks Kallidor, I appreciate it, and hope you'll like how it spins out.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting...

Inquisitor Sargoth

As of yet, very little tinkering has been posted. I need to redraft next sections (Mainrune, the woman, the whole genestealer arc) more than the earlier bits - make things less jumpy and preachy, really.

I'd be glad to resume our emailing; you were the best sounding board I ever had and I like to think I was too. Perhaps one day when we both have time (unlikely I know) we can try writing something together again. 
One More Hit - A tale of addiction.

Dosdamt

There are those of us trying to resurrect the IC board, I'm pushing as hard as I can with WDD, but I'm not getting the through put of posts just yet. And there's a few things to iron out in the background (email to you Stu, for example) this week.

But hopefully, it will begin to grow....

I do hope you continue with the Daemonologist, it's most interesting and very different to much of what has been posted IC.

-Ben
It is never too late! - Mentirius

http://thementalmarine.proboards.com/index.cgi <- The Mind, for all your irreverent nonsense needs

Inquisitor Sargoth

The thought occurs that we could try and advertise/recruit. Me, I'm a good little 'clave patriot, but I'm certain there must be writers on Warseer, (obviously) the BL forums and others I'm unaware of. We could try posting stories there to lure people into coming here - perhaps the tantalising openers with a link to the rest on here.
One More Hit - A tale of addiction.

Mohauk

It's not a bad idea - particularly regarding the BL forums. Unfortunately I suspect people have their niches and tend not to shift. After all, despite only really being a 'claver because I found it first, I've never really considered using other forums as well. But it would be worth a try.

Ben- I've had a read of the first four or five bits of WDD and it looks very interesting. Incredibly dark and arcane, as I would have hoped and expected from you. Around how many people have you got in on it atm? How long has it been going?

Next post up. Hopefully some sense of the social architecture of Tyaernya's servants is starting to form. More and more will become apparent with each new post in that storyline. The next, however, will be the first of a two/three part side story unconnected to this one.

I'm interested to hear what people think of the structure of this last post. The idea is that the fight breaks up the chunks of background info with a bit of action and also echoes it in the build to a crescendo of sorts.

Quoteyou were the best sounding board I ever had

Wow, cheers, I'd say the same thing about you (though to be fair you were my only sounding board.  ;)

Anyway, that's all for now.

MM.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting...

Dosdamt

There are about 5 - 6 people on WDD at present, it's not been going too long, to be perfectly honest it's still in the embryonic stages - there's one last reveal post from me, to finish setting the scene, and then from there I plan on leaving any background I would put into posts on my PC to reveal at appropriate times and all other posts to drive the action forwards. There's a plan and a timeline in place for the thread and I've got a direction I want to take the thread and campaign in.

There are also a few known unknowns and unknown unknowns to iron out, if you see what I mean and to use a bad turn of phrase, in the plan at present.

I noticed the fight / background structure and thought it was quite interesting, in that they mirrored each other nicely. I felt like I was in the moment, simply having a chat with the guy.

-Ben
It is never too late! - Mentirius

http://thementalmarine.proboards.com/index.cgi <- The Mind, for all your irreverent nonsense needs

Inquisitor Sargoth

Hmm. I think I'll actually follow through on my idea and post something up there - the opener to AM is an obvious choice. If Ben would stick up B, T and X here that would also be good, as would the Daemonologist.

Did you expand the story at all since the last time you posted it? It seems slightly more detailed than I remember, though it has been some time.

I liked to think we were tuning into a similar wavelength; I often made use of your ideas and they sparked lots of my own.
One More Hit - A tale of addiction.

Kallidor

The combat helped break up the delivery of information but at the same time, given how the characters were concentrating on the investigation and even the Inquisitor must have been going over it all in her mind then none of them seemed overly interested in the combat itself making it somewhat irrelevant in terms of IC, she might just as well have been bouncing a ball against the wall.

It does however help present her as someone utterly focussed and in control, at the end there it seems like she was beaten (I actually quite liked that, everyone always has their characters demolish some faceless peon in a training excercise) but then she uses the over-confidence of her opponent to beat him; possibly, I know you mentioned he wasn't a servitor but for all intents and purposes he could have been.
Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Mohauk

QuoteI felt like I was in the moment, simply having a chat with the guy.

That's what I was going for! It's why I included Phrygur in the scene, so that there'd be that subconscious image of two guys watching the fight while the information was relayed, even if they're not actually talking to one another. The challenge of the piece is developing Kolec's voice when, as a character, he doesn't have a particularly volatile or obvious personality. So it's good that you felt it came very much from him like that and wasn't just plain narration.

QuoteDid you expand the story at all since the last time you posted it?

Not particularly. Just a few words or a phrase changed here and there.

Kallidor: True, of course, that the fight isn't necessary to the plot of the story, but that was what I needed. If I'd tried to cram both significant plot-developing action and a load of background into one scene it would be too much to process. Instead the fight provides a counter to the info in which the characters aren't overly invested, and also gives a glimpse into the gruelling routines Tyaernya puts herself through and thus also her character.

Aaaanyway, postage. Quite a long one, too, and not particularly lightened with dialogue, sorry. First bit introduces a new multi-part side story, and is pretty crude, to be honest. Lots of cliches and overly cinematic moments. But it's all neccessary to set up the next part of the story, which I am quite proud of. So bear with me on that.

Part two of today's post continues Kolec's storyline, and effectively brings you almost up to speed on what's going on and what Tyaernya and her retinue are currently doing. The hope is that by now the reader is developing vague theories of what might be going on on Iyo based on the various disasters themselves and on the tenuous link of the Goroite seal. And in fact there is an unwitting hint concealed in this scene. But there're several key bits of information to be revealed before the answer to Iyo's troubles will become clear.

Rambling on as always. C+C welcome.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting...

Kallidor

Really good, plenty of detail but with an economy of words which keeps the pace constant. I really like this sleep plague too, a novel idea  :)
Be Pure!
Be Vigilant!
BEHAVE!

Mohauk

Thanks Kallidor!

Right, I've started up my second revisited solo: The Algophilist. Don't ask me why they're both '-ist', because i have no idea.

The Algophilist was probably my darkest piece of writing ever, and an experiment in a different writing style: deliberately opaque, abandoning basic assumption in the language for more freedoms and encrusted with decoration to the point of opulence. The language reflects the speaker, and in fact later on I plan to include other perspectives written in a more usual style.

The actual facts of the story are meant to be very difficult to interpret, but do become clearer. The focus is split between the individual 'deviations' of the character himself (he has plenty) and the curious and terrible circumstances on the planet, Chalcedon, and how they came to arise.

Anyway, C+C welcome! I'll be away for about a week, so don't expect replies to anything for a bit.

MM.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting...