#c8y — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #c8y, aggregated by home.social.
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#WordWeavers Aug 20: "Is education freely given to all interested people in your story?"
Yes, in the sense that it isn't rationed. A good public lecturer can expect crowds of thousands, or hundreds of millions on stream for in-season basics. Free movement allows traveling tutors to keep a plot of kilo-class centraframe as it's towed through the stars, offering classes and thorough instruction.
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#WordWeavers 19 Aug: "Could you imagine a story in the same world where your MC is the antagonist?"
Yes, if Saki and Sinóle were taken from their failed worlds by anyone else. Some heroes have an unbreakable core of goodness, others the right support network.
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#WordWeavers 4 August: "MC POV: Have you ever been on a voyage? Where did you go and why?"
Saki chuckles under her breath, her shoulders bouncing as she curls around her cup of tea.
"Yeah, I've been on a voyage alright.", she grumbled between sips.
"If they ever tell you they're saving you by putting you in a computer, run. While you still can."
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#WordWeavers August 3: "Does your world have ships, either ocean, space or whatever? What kind?"
We have all three at Ats'van: ocean, air, and space.
On the ocean, rather than commercial freight or cruise ships the primary boat is the sailboat. These are elaborate displays of craft, often old and handmade, highly prized and constantly won and lost by the outcome of Superheavy Exo duels and 50km-pitch Tethyne Polo matches.
Ultralight and lighter-than-air craft ply the sky, the five-kilometer deep blanket of air wrapped tightly against Ats'van's cylindrical hull. Being a 100k-class Centraframe, Ats'van is large enough for a huge open dock at the spaceward end of the cylinder, allowing starships to simply slip within.
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#WordWeavers July 29: "MC POV: Do you ride horseback or your world's equivalent?"
Sinóle sets the tea service on the table, smacks down into her seat, and starts "After studying your "horse", we are... not sure."
"Does it count if you get inside the horse?", Saki adds.
"And does it not count if you talk to the horse?"
Saki's eyes narrow as she rebuts, "They talk to their horses in stories."
"Well if stories count, all bets are off.", Sinóle says with a smarmy fry.
"What do they mean by "equivalent" anyways? About the only similarity between Tethyans and horses is when we walk on four." (1/2)
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#WordWeavers 28 Apr 2025: "Do you pick the story, or does the story pick you?"
I honestly can't say which. Maiden-Heretic evolved from a #worldbuilding project with no aim that technically started March 12, 2000. I remember putting the header they taught us in class on the paper by habit and thinking how silly that was!
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I shared Kels' color reference earlier, now here's Kepherlia "Keph" One of Heissan. Sinóle's childhood friend and the only member of Echo Rampant born on a living planet, she came to Arco Atsuvan to revel in kaosflow directly with the Tethyans.
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#PennedPossibilities 656: "How forgiving is your MC?"
Saki's only read about forgiveness from illicit books. She knows how to keep score, but in adulthood she's realized everyone's scores look more similar than different.
Sinóle's most critical memory is her adopted father Leonan abducting her from a cult of obligatory orphanhood. She's haunted by mercy, forgiveness, and the injustice of events.
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#WordWeavers 4/27: ”Would you ever want your MC's life?”
I'd move to where Saki and Sinóle live in a heartbeat, but never want their experiences. There's reasons their ears perk up when they first hear about a mission to kill "God"...
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Saki's my profile pic, and I've drawn Sinóle before, so here's a color reference for Kelice "Kels" of Atsuvan. Born from Arco Atsuvan's own engram pool, she bears memories of great achievements in Tethyncy, both sport and war, from her Formers. At 24 and having been raised into this life, she's happy to be the adult in the room for team Echo Rampant when needed.
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#WordWeavers 24 April 2025: "Would your MC rather lose their sight or hearing?"
Saki's very distrustful, and it's hard to blame her. Keeping her eyes on things is very important to her, at least the one she has left!
#MaidenHeretic deuteragonist Sinóle, on the other hand, revels awash in Arcaelit society's many loop nets, microtelene thermal networks, and other extrasensoria to the point she can pick up an object and tell you what's recently happened to it. She'd probably wager if the odds were good enough.
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Got some spacesuit design work done. Now onto a little poster, then finally #MaidenHeretic Chapter 3. Go Echo Rampant, may we enter Kaosflow... #AmWriting #ScienceFiction #Mecha #C8y
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#WordWeavers 18 April: What would it take for your MC to become violent?
Nothing more than permission! Saki's first life was spent as government property, a Superheavy Exo Pilot who never got to meet her sworn enemy. After her second life as a glorified computer program / social experiment, she's more than happy when those same sworn enemies arrive and offer her the same (or so she thinks...)
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#WordWeavers “What would a travel guide about your story's world advertise as a must-see?”
That’s easy, Tethyne Polo hands-down. You know Polo, and Water Polo, but have you ever seen it played by teams of 2 million-ton biomachine-entities across an 80km field, best seen about 15 degrees away inside the titanic rotating cylinder they call home? They’re allowed to jump on part of the field! But wait, there’s more! Did we mention a part of the audience thinks these entities (and the passionate, competitive, and so-violent-they’re-also-the-army people who dive them) are the actual, living gods? That would make the tea at 50-by-5 some kind of nectar of the gods! Preposterous, but if you happen to overhear the story, it really did cure their cancer. In the End, it’s all framing.
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#WordWeavers “What would a meeting between the MC and the author look like?”
Somehow I feel it’s more likely Saki’s universe is a base reality rather than this one, so if we met it would involve her delivering some bad news for all of us…
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#WordWeavers What is your MC’s daily fear (not worst fear?)
At the beginning of Maiden-Heretic, Saki’s just spent six years as a copy of herself in Simspace, more precisely in the exact biocomputer environment her world was melted into. Despite killing her in combat they kept her, part experiment and part bargaining chip for when the Arcaelits come. Now that they have, Saki 3’s back under physics.
However, the problem with Simspaces like that is they’re literally indistinguishable from life. About every day, usually in the morning, Saki has the thought:
“I’ll never really know.”
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#WordWeavers 26 August: “If your MC received a gift basket, what would be in it?”
For Saki, she’d love some seeds or cuttings from tea species similar to ones lost with her original world’s life. She might be happy to see various toiletries and everyday items, implemented by the Arcaelits from automat of course, but in shapes more familiar to her. Also, someone would throw in shoes other than the mirror-finish thigh-high spacesuit boots she wears almost constantly. It’s a showy habit she and Sinóle share, but then again Hylaeoi are known to bond with their tools, using Exo gear for everyday purposes.
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#PennedPossibilities 415: "Does your MC have a strong morality? Does this cause trouble for them?"
Saki never had to develop a true morality: life as a public, visible tool of fascism from age 5 Does It For You. Hers are gut-and-blade morals, the constant fear that only the most vigorous strugglers live in their moment, quickly subsumed by the dark flow of history as they relent. Sinóle, our other MC and Saki's new roomate, has lived in the Arcaelit for awhile. An obligate orphan with almost no raising, she's been a full-throated TTMA signatory since arrival: chaos is her only mother, whose only law is death. From there, though, she takes the brave Arcaelit leap, believing all from chaos, everything and one, must flow in its own way with no coersion. To the Arcaelits, the gardeners of chaos, facilitating this radical freedom at a spacetime level is the highest moral. Just don't try and direct their efforts...
https://wiki.canonicity.org/index.php/TTMA
#C8y #MaidenHeretic #scifi #AmWriting (again!) -
#PennedPossibilities 225: "Does your MC or SC know how to swim?"
Saki can swim for utility’s sake. She’s been trained to escape and evade across many terrestrial environments, albeit she has little experience with alien worlds. Always check local G before jumping in!
Sinóle, as a Tethyan enjoyer, has fold-out flipper inserts in all her boots. When not in her whole spacesuit, she usually has her diving mask rolled up in her wallet too.
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#WordWeavers February 15: "What does your character think their greatest achievement is?"
Saki puzzles over you, as she’s done for most of these questions, but this time her gaze locks onto yours. Her brow straightens and her expression disappears as if taking cover. Her right pointer finger lifts from its perch on her teacup handle and points generally at your neck.
“Sometimes,” she starts, “I can’t tell if you’re interviewing me, or *fucking* with me. This one’s between me and the Psych Board. Next question.”
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#WordWeavers January 4: "SC POV. How do you feel about family? Who do you consider family?"
(1/2)
Sinóle's doing double-duty as a side character. Don’t tell her...
Sinóle flips her hair back with her left hand and digs against her scalp in thought. Her brow un-scrunches, and with eager aquamarine eyes she says,
“Capital-F-family, huh? Not a common topic around here, you must be dhekene! Arcaelits have no “official” relationships, just like we have no Law or permanent formalisms. Does that scare you? I was always fine with it; I grew up in a cult. I was nine when Leonan came, pursuing his former Stratarch to the ring system those assholes are still holed up in to this day. That guy (would you believe I don’t know their name, they lived here for decades and only went down seven years ago!) didn’t want to give the mantle back after the operation. Not that you’ll get the chance, but never do that.” -
#WordWeavers January 3: "MC POV: Are you a fan of anything?"
Pictured are Saki (left), and Sinóle (right), our deuteragonists.
Saki looks straight at you, and until her expressionless mouth twists into a mischievous grin it seems like you might've finally piqued her interest.
“What a great way to phrase that question! No.” she replies, holding her smirk.
As her drop partner yields the conversation, Sinóle practically shouts, “Tethyans! Literally everything about them. Ask me anything.”
Raising her eyebrows, Saki adds, “Go ahead, I dare you. You'll hear it all eventually. She's not even crazy, Tethyans are why we're here.”
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#WordWeavers January 2: "What scene in your current WIP are you proudest of?"
So far? Probably the emergency landing at the end of Chapter 2, smack in the middle of our MC’s getting-to-know-each-other trip that ends up being a trial by fire, as well as Sinóle's coming of age. It sets the tone for the first months of their relationship, at least! An excerpt:
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Their transport flipped end-over-end with a loud thruster bang and lit its main engines at full power, slamming Saki and Sinóle against their crash couches while Inofrei swayed back and forth like reeds in the wind. Above the rumble Inofrei called out, "a positive opportunity for you, Sinóle, recall your last unknown planet excursion."
Sinóle responded with an unintelligible growl.
"Intara…" Saki pushed.
"I passed out. Big deal!"
*I died last month, and I'm about to do it again, aren't I?* Saki thought.
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From The Maiden-Heretic of Laclathan: https://canonicity.org/tmhol/chapter_2
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Alright, Happy New Year's, let's do some catchup!
#WordWeavers January 1: "What are your writing plans for the coming year?"
Last year I tightened up a bunch of worldbuilding, finished an outline, and started on some visualization. This year, I aim to complete the first draft of Canonicity’s first Webnovel, The Maiden-Heretic of Laclathan! That’s the WIP I’ve been using for WritingWonders, the one with two chapters soon to have company: https://canonicity.org/works/TMHOL
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I haven't been posting much recently, but I'm excited to say these new sets of pixel art backgrounds and character portraits will soon be coming to a writing hashtag game near you!
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#WordWeavers 4 October: “Character development, world-building, plot — how much attention do you pay to each?”
I try to give each of those elements equal attention, but Canonicity is inherently a #WorldBuilding project. That being said, having a system of interlocking communities with a history of interactions at many scales has helped tremendously with both plot and characters! Far from constraining me, the availability of answers to things like “what might happen if they do that?” or “how does this person generate their values?” Helps me notice a ton of connections I wouldn’t otherwise make. In turn, those connections lend extra clarity to worldbuilding in a virtuous cycle.
The main drawback is that progress on my drafts has been slow. This year I’ve made fewer changes and more observations, so I’m optimistically considering that a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of foundations…
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#WordWeavers 26 September 2023: "Is your antagonist or protagonist more fashionable?"
Saki wears a combination of athletic wear and spacesuits, whereas the character closest to being the antagonist wears a multilayered garment designed to obscure all their movements, especially body language and speech. The visual effect is like a rough cone of translucent drapes hung from an 18-inch pole, the outer layers holding themselves apart like flower petals, and an occasional floor-length sleeve-shape jutting out when they reach for something.
Sinóle, on the other hand, enjoys prowling around town with her girlfriend in a finely-curated all-black wardrobe with bright, multi-spectral accessories and makeup. In any non-military capacity, she wins this one!