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Today was a very busy day, filled with writing, the sewing of leather, and dance. I wrote a character background, began piecing together my leather armour, and taught one dance class, one mini workshop, and performed one drum solo. The crowd was very tough, performance-wise, but very receptive, when it came time to teach them some basic dance moves.
The sewing was especially tough. I'm sewing leather by hand, and broke two needles in the process. My finger and thumb pads are feeling pretty tender, and typing is filled with extra sensation.
....
I wrote a quick and dirty character background for an upcoming game. If you'd care to read the beginning of Di'ikh Aiah (Deek Eye-Uh),
Di'ikhe Aiah
I am the daughter of the Dark Elves Leola Glavindel and Korreshi Aiah. When the nations were still whole, my parents were minor nobles in Sindar. Just over thirty years ago, they were forced to flee the city. I was born shortly after the exodus. My parents never told me why they left, and perhaps I shall never know. But all was not lost, and they, along with the other refugees, became the founding fathers of the town of Tahsis Creek.
My father, Korreshi, became a town council member. My mother, Leola, kept the Glavindel tradition of slaving alive, retaining several skilled indentured servants and providing necessary services for the people of Tahsis Creek. I was to follow in my father's footsteps as a council member, but I am shamed to say I paid him little heed. Although I did learn some basic political skills, I had little interest in other people, let alone the affairs of state. Neither was I interested in my mother's business. Sure, I could handle the servants, and even showed a certain facility for record-keeping and choosing good matches in the breeding program, but I had another future plotted out for myself. I wanted to be a forester. I wanted to have a complete understanding of the forest, with its green and gold seasonal ebbs and flows. I often abandoned my lessons to spend my time in the darkest parts of the forest, sneaking up on deer, hypnotizing the fish in the shallows, and practicing other childish fancies.
It was on one such trip that I met Mallivel. I had seen him before, of course. Tahsis Creek wasn't so very large a town. But we'd never really spoken. He was a messenger for the council, and most of the times I saw him, he was running to or from the town with a small leather knapsack on his back. When I saw him in shade of an ancient oak, I think it was the only time I ever saw him standing still. He was waiting for me.
We met frequently after that. He became my lover, and although I never told them, I think my parents approved of the match.
Early one evening, I abandoned my history lessons to run to the woods. Mallivel told me to meet him under the big oak. I waited the entire night, but he didn't show up. I wasn't terribly worried, though. Perhaps he'd been sent off with an important message. It had happened before. And so I reclined beneath the tree, watching the rosy glow of dusk blotted out by the black-blue of a cloudy night sky. I must have dozed off, because when I looked up again, the sky was once again rosy. But something was wrong. The light in the sky wasn't blooming in the east with the rising sun, but off to the north, over Tahsis Creek.
I jumped to my feet, and the leaves crackled to life above me as the wind suddenly picked up. The air carried the smell of smoke and sulpher, and I ran as quickly as I could back to the town.
As I crossed the ridge, I saw the conflagration below me. The town was in ruins. My house was half collapsed with smoke guttering out the windows. I tore down the escarpment and through the open gate to the town. I almost tripped on the guard. He was nailed to a piece of wood. His eyes had been plucked out, and it looked as though something had dug his guts out of him. They rested beside him in a steaming pile.
Gagging, I ran into my house, calling for my mother and father. The front room was filled with the stench of burning meat. Inky smoke roiled from the fireplace. I glanced at the fire, then did a double-take. Those weren't logs but limbs. Charred arms and legs were neatly stacked inside, and the poker lay close by as though it were just abandoned. Terrified at what I'd find, I crept my way to the dining room. My parents were tied to the dining room chairs, their arms and legs hewn off. My mother's sword, lie on the blood-soaked table in front of them, and from the gouges in the tabletop, I could only assume that was where they'd been mutilated. My parents had bled to death in their chairs.
I collapsed on the floor. My world was turning brownish grey. The roar of the town in flames waned in my ears. I could feel my body and mind shutting down. I wanted nothing more than to curl up and die right then, but I had to know if Mallivel were still alive. I fought my way through the wool of shock, grabbed the sword off the table, and staggered out of my ruined home.
I searched the town, but I found no trace of Mallivel. The village was red with embers and blood, and the burgeoning dawn bathed it all in a crimson light. My lungs were clogged with the stench of sulpher and burned fats. Corpses of all races riddled the town. No one had been spared. Even the livestock had been slaughtered. I rounded a corner to see where a mother had been impaled, a long iron bar jammed up her fundament and through her abdomen, her infant skewered at the end just beyond her reach.
And then I heard shouts of dismay. I spun around to see soldiers just returning from patrol. I ran to them. "Who did this?" I demanded. But they did not know. They were as surprised and horrified as I.
When the captain of the patrol got his men back under control, he recruited my help. We put out in searching for survivors. No one had survived. We next gathered up all the corpses for burial, and that's when we noticed several people were unaccounted for. My mother's servants, Mallivel, a few foresters and a couple of other messengers were nowhere to be found. We might have stayed and tried to salvage what we could of the town, but even after the wind had cleared the smoke from the dying embers, the stench of sulfur remained, and it was making all of us ill. The air was poisoned.
With wet cloths tied over our faces, we scavenged what we could from the ruins of the town, and we left.
The sewing was especially tough. I'm sewing leather by hand, and broke two needles in the process. My finger and thumb pads are feeling pretty tender, and typing is filled with extra sensation.
....
I wrote a quick and dirty character background for an upcoming game. If you'd care to read the beginning of Di'ikh Aiah (Deek Eye-Uh),
Di'ikhe Aiah
I am the daughter of the Dark Elves Leola Glavindel and Korreshi Aiah. When the nations were still whole, my parents were minor nobles in Sindar. Just over thirty years ago, they were forced to flee the city. I was born shortly after the exodus. My parents never told me why they left, and perhaps I shall never know. But all was not lost, and they, along with the other refugees, became the founding fathers of the town of Tahsis Creek.
My father, Korreshi, became a town council member. My mother, Leola, kept the Glavindel tradition of slaving alive, retaining several skilled indentured servants and providing necessary services for the people of Tahsis Creek. I was to follow in my father's footsteps as a council member, but I am shamed to say I paid him little heed. Although I did learn some basic political skills, I had little interest in other people, let alone the affairs of state. Neither was I interested in my mother's business. Sure, I could handle the servants, and even showed a certain facility for record-keeping and choosing good matches in the breeding program, but I had another future plotted out for myself. I wanted to be a forester. I wanted to have a complete understanding of the forest, with its green and gold seasonal ebbs and flows. I often abandoned my lessons to spend my time in the darkest parts of the forest, sneaking up on deer, hypnotizing the fish in the shallows, and practicing other childish fancies.
It was on one such trip that I met Mallivel. I had seen him before, of course. Tahsis Creek wasn't so very large a town. But we'd never really spoken. He was a messenger for the council, and most of the times I saw him, he was running to or from the town with a small leather knapsack on his back. When I saw him in shade of an ancient oak, I think it was the only time I ever saw him standing still. He was waiting for me.
We met frequently after that. He became my lover, and although I never told them, I think my parents approved of the match.
Early one evening, I abandoned my history lessons to run to the woods. Mallivel told me to meet him under the big oak. I waited the entire night, but he didn't show up. I wasn't terribly worried, though. Perhaps he'd been sent off with an important message. It had happened before. And so I reclined beneath the tree, watching the rosy glow of dusk blotted out by the black-blue of a cloudy night sky. I must have dozed off, because when I looked up again, the sky was once again rosy. But something was wrong. The light in the sky wasn't blooming in the east with the rising sun, but off to the north, over Tahsis Creek.
I jumped to my feet, and the leaves crackled to life above me as the wind suddenly picked up. The air carried the smell of smoke and sulpher, and I ran as quickly as I could back to the town.
As I crossed the ridge, I saw the conflagration below me. The town was in ruins. My house was half collapsed with smoke guttering out the windows. I tore down the escarpment and through the open gate to the town. I almost tripped on the guard. He was nailed to a piece of wood. His eyes had been plucked out, and it looked as though something had dug his guts out of him. They rested beside him in a steaming pile.
Gagging, I ran into my house, calling for my mother and father. The front room was filled with the stench of burning meat. Inky smoke roiled from the fireplace. I glanced at the fire, then did a double-take. Those weren't logs but limbs. Charred arms and legs were neatly stacked inside, and the poker lay close by as though it were just abandoned. Terrified at what I'd find, I crept my way to the dining room. My parents were tied to the dining room chairs, their arms and legs hewn off. My mother's sword, lie on the blood-soaked table in front of them, and from the gouges in the tabletop, I could only assume that was where they'd been mutilated. My parents had bled to death in their chairs.
I collapsed on the floor. My world was turning brownish grey. The roar of the town in flames waned in my ears. I could feel my body and mind shutting down. I wanted nothing more than to curl up and die right then, but I had to know if Mallivel were still alive. I fought my way through the wool of shock, grabbed the sword off the table, and staggered out of my ruined home.
I searched the town, but I found no trace of Mallivel. The village was red with embers and blood, and the burgeoning dawn bathed it all in a crimson light. My lungs were clogged with the stench of sulpher and burned fats. Corpses of all races riddled the town. No one had been spared. Even the livestock had been slaughtered. I rounded a corner to see where a mother had been impaled, a long iron bar jammed up her fundament and through her abdomen, her infant skewered at the end just beyond her reach.
And then I heard shouts of dismay. I spun around to see soldiers just returning from patrol. I ran to them. "Who did this?" I demanded. But they did not know. They were as surprised and horrified as I.
When the captain of the patrol got his men back under control, he recruited my help. We put out in searching for survivors. No one had survived. We next gathered up all the corpses for burial, and that's when we noticed several people were unaccounted for. My mother's servants, Mallivel, a few foresters and a couple of other messengers were nowhere to be found. We might have stayed and tried to salvage what we could of the town, but even after the wind had cleared the smoke from the dying embers, the stench of sulfur remained, and it was making all of us ill. The air was poisoned.
With wet cloths tied over our faces, we scavenged what we could from the ruins of the town, and we left.
