A/N: This is all that'll be posted tonight, and all that'll be free until I publish on RR. Thanks for reading!
It took me only a moment to realize what had happened, how the office had changed in the quarter of an hour we’d been in here. All along, the walls had been lightly colonized by green sprouts and moss, but slowly, imperceptibly, that had changed. The greenery had, without me or...
2025-02-28 06:11:54 +0000 UTC View PostWith the occasional root or sprout appearing as we walked, there was a nebulous path to follow towards whatever our destination would be. Jetiza, with her eyes modified by an unfamiliar Arcane Brand, led the way. I pointed my penlight wherever I saw anything that could be of note, but with her magically amplified sight, Jetiza didn’t need my help so instead I inspected whatever caught my eye ...
2025-02-28 06:10:40 +0000 UTC View PostAs much as I hated to admit it, I needed to head back to the site of the explosion. I wouldn’t have my coburite, but everything else was prepared and I’d lived forty years without it anyways. Everything else was ready for me to descend once more into the belly. With the decision made, I steeled myself and began the short walk towards the Greens. I stepped through the streets, feeling dozens...
2025-02-28 06:10:03 +0000 UTC View PostWith much of the city awake and on their way to work, I couldn’t take one of the trams closer to my home. More of the damned, ash-born need to posture prevented me from using the much cheaper and more reasonable trams when they were as cramped as they were sure to be at this hour. Instead, I forked out an additional two large gold for the much shorter ride to my home in the Hearth, and sat qu...
2025-02-28 06:09:15 +0000 UTC View PostKnowing what was coming, I carefully knelt into the plush carpeting to allow Mama S to look at me. Johanna Silverfoot always needed to inspect her children, and she counted me among her other five.
“You’re skinny, Kro.” She stated, displeased. “You don’t feed yourself, focusing too much on being handsome! Your beard barely grows, no woman would want you so hairless and chi...
2025-02-28 06:08:34 +0000 UTC View Post“Anders.” I said, bowing my head to my adoptive father. He’d stepped into the garrison before I’d noticed he was there, but he’d always walked quietly, even for a two foot-tall gnome. He lovingly patted my knee before speaking, his clear tenor voice carrying tempered steel in its tone.
“You boys’ll make sure that nothing happens to his coburite, won’t you?”
“Of c...
2025-02-28 06:07:20 +0000 UTC View PostIn my experience, jail itself isn’t too bad. Sure, there’s not a whole lot of freedom or things to look at, but the times I’ve been in jail, it’s mostly been a good time to rest and wait around. Even better in this case cause a photomancer had come and triaged my finger, so the break was mostly healed. But where the real problems begin is when people start wanting to talk to you. I’d ...
2025-02-28 06:06:38 +0000 UTC View PostThe two Blues that had come to investigate this potential arson were, unfortunately, familiar to me. Silvara was a right bastard of a constable. He’d been a member of the Arcane Guard for a couple decades, and he had the attitude and tattoos to prove it. He stood maybe six foot two, a couple inches taller than me, and his face could be charitably called ruddy, though more accurately, it was a...
2025-02-28 06:05:55 +0000 UTC View PostA/N: You may ask, Ben, what the hell is this? Are you not writing enough? I answer, yes. I am. But I wanted to write more, so here you go and stop complaining!
As the sewers exploded behind me, I could at least comfort myself saying that this time it wasn’t my fault. I dodged the flaming debris as best as I could, but as I glanced back, I saw a manhole cover rocketing towards a young bo...
2025-02-28 06:05:11 +0000 UTC View PostI just edited my page. I hesitated to do this before, but I've decided to do so now--you can now sign up for an annual membership and save 10% overall. There's no obligation, of course, but I now feel pretty sure that I'll still be writing a year from now, so there you are.
2025-02-27 16:09:44 +0000 UTC View PostAs the years have passed, we are asked if what we do is necessary. We are told that our efforts are in vain. We are ridiculed, disparaged, and neglected. All this is in service to our goals, so do not fret. The Blackened Sanctuary’s purpose is to the benefit of all those living, but it is not for the understanding of the limited mortal mind. Is what we do necessary? Absolutely. Ar...
2025-02-27 04:00:03 +0000 UTC View Post[Percral POV]
It’d been weeks since the Alpha, or Zaaktif, Percral reminded himself, left on his journey. In the days since, Sybil had continued with her usual iron-clawed yet reasonable rule. She didn’t beat anyone down with force of fist, but whenever someone disagreed, they found themselves pulled to the side and made to understand exactly why and where they had be...
2025-02-26 04:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostThe more I spoke with Tar, the more I realized he was asking much better questions than I could manage. Each thought he expressed gleaned more from and about me than I could manage, and once the thought occurred to me that the only thing I had as proof as to the veracity of his claims was his word. I couldn’t continue answering in good conscience. Even so, at that point, I’d answered dozens...
2025-02-25 04:00:11 +0000 UTC View PostThe Rodentia and Mustelid bring news, and it is not the Otariid’s place to answer. These new neighbors are not at all seafaring, so it is the place of the Lupine and Ursine to decide. The Rodentia have been the initial contact while the Mustelid have merely overseen the meetings to ensure news is returned to the Union. Those who have spoken with them have said that, contrary to ex...
2025-02-22 04:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostAfter taking a month to evolve and rest in New Nievtra, traveling once again was strange. With so many fewer of my people journeying together than on our journey to the Shandise, we moved much quicker than before. There was no need to coddle herds or search for large defensible camping spots, as we didn’t need to spend nights in the plains down below where the “umbral ophidians” lived. I ...
2025-02-21 04:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostAs soon as we set foot outside of the bounds of New Nievtra, Sybil’s plans were immediately apparent. The entirety of my keelish subordinates were arrayed in mostly straight lines, saluting me as I left. Instead of the human fist to chest or hand to head, though, they cocked their heads to the right, exposing their throats in submission. Their hands held what weapons we’d produced thus far,...
2025-02-20 04:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThere wasn’t any reason to wait, and as soon as I left my little hovel, we went to find Brutus and the Alqat that he’d decided would follow me on this journey. Leera and Greel had prepared themselves and remained close to the entrance from where I’d slept. As it was still early, though, and they’d succumbed to sleep at some point during the night and hadn’t woken to the suns growing l...
2025-02-19 03:02:07 +0000 UTC View PostFrom the early days, we knew our position was of the highest import, but as the years have passed, it becomes more and more evident that the Alqat have a key place in our nation. We now are versed in counterterrorism, assassination circumvention, and aggressive negotiations, and this is all due to the Zaaktif’s willingness to allow us to accompany him on his journeys and stay by h...
2025-02-18 06:18:21 +0000 UTC View PostAs I lay in the sands of the bath, I closed my eyes in true relaxation. It had been a while since I’d been able to, given that I’d spent days spearheading the defense against the ant assault. Nobody had come to disturb us since we’d left the gathering of the Keel, so I supposed it would be fine for me to indulge in a bath. As I vibrated the sands to fluidization, I rolled my shoulders. Fi...
2025-02-15 04:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostI’d seen Ytte tear into the ants, so I knew she was somewhere, but I couldn’t lay eye on her. Before I could ask, though, she popped up from around the corner or a house. Her hands carved through the stone, leaving smooth connected walls in their wake.
“I apologize, Alpha.” Ytte bowed her head. “I could see that there were parts of the pit’s structure that demanded my at...
2025-02-14 04:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostI've had a fair amount of people join the patreon in the past weeks. Welcome! This goes to you and old timers. Just have a question:
Are you here more for Ashlani's Reincarnation or Successor of Kukulkan at this point?
2025-02-13 18:13:23 +0000 UTC View PostInitial scouting reports have shown that, contrary to the usual habits of their people, they are now focusing not on eradication of all that moves near to them, but instead on the establishment of several strongholds. They haven’t shown any particular desire to expand beyond the lands they have already claimed. It is, in short, a genuinely baffling turn of events. Even so, we cont...
2025-02-13 04:00:03 +0000 UTC View PostDays passed, and though I made sure to contribute where necessary, I spent most of it tending to those of my elites that were evolving to Keel. As we left the meeting, those who had qualified obviously exhibited their exhaustion, the strain that this was putting on them. Took, Sybil, Shemira, Vefir, Foire, Brutus, Ytte, Percral, and Joral were led to the most complete building we had that could...
2025-02-12 04:00:02 +0000 UTC View Post[Sybil POV]
She felt her consciousness returning in a blur, though only momentarily. Every part of her body hurt, and her stomach screamed its fury at the neglect it had been shown. Before she could make her return to consciousness known, a small chunk of flesh was offered. She didn’t open her eyes, but the scent. The scent! She snapped at it, the juicy meat wetting her...
2025-02-11 04:00:07 +0000 UTC View Post“Why’s she here?” Shemira asked, looking down her nose at Farahlia. Standing among my elites, I was notably taller and bigger in every way than even Took and Brutus.
“Farahlia has proven herself capable, and though there remain no small amount of quibbles between you, she has proven herself by how quickly she was able to achieve evolution to khatif. There is no doubt that she will...
2025-02-08 04:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostI’d expected something beyond enthusiastic approval when I told Sybil I would be soon going on an expedition with a couple guards and Farahlia, but true to form and personality, she nearly immediately understood what I was getting at.
“I cannot travel with you, due to my importance managing the details of the New Empire’s creation. If both of us were absent in its infancy, the...
2025-02-07 04:00:05 +0000 UTC View Post[You have declared yourself a monarch of the newly declared nation “The New Empire of the Saharliard”. In order for your nation to be recognized as such, you must do the following:
Declare your nation as extant to three foreign nations’ qualified representatives. Progress: 0/3
Gain a population of at least 20,000 sapient civilian inhabitants within the bounds ...
2025-02-06 04:00:05 +0000 UTC View PostDays passed and I spent them working alongside each caste of keelish. Though I’d hoped that most, if not all, of my elites would evolve as soon as I did, that wasn’t the case. In fact, ten days after my evolution was complete, I remained the sole Keel and there still were none that had entered the evolutionary state. Nievtala assured me that other evolutions were soon to come but couldn’t...
2025-02-05 04:00:04 +0000 UTC View PostThe Gran Verat must ask that you be patient with the imperfect members of the Veratocracy. That he was required to step in and make the command to High Lord Alniyh himself is an embarrassment to the station the High Lord occupies. Please know that the High Lord is returning to the Thnufir, but he has been specifically commanded to bring his Bound he calls Than. I cannot say if he wi...
2025-02-04 04:00:06 +0000 UTC View PostAmong so many other things, the first thing that jumped out to me on my new [Status] was the complete lack of any possible evolutions. I’d never been in that same situation before, and the lack of any specific goal to strive towards left me feeling somewhat empty. The five [Quests] awaiting my input quickly quashed that aimless feeling, but I did feel a certain pang of loss. After all, this e...
2025-02-01 04:00:04 +0000 UTC View Post