Notes and Errata of Mark of the Asphodel

OK. So, sixteen-year-old Merric is a student at Khadein University studying wind power applications. He's a well-regarded student and a favorite of Professor Wendell, but he keeps getting into scrapes with a fellow student named Ellerean, whose study focus is the dangerous fringe field of electrical technology.

Anyway, things are going along well enough when a horrific act of industrial sabotage takes place in Merric's homeland of Altea-- a regional center of steam and hydropower thanks to its abundant water supply. An attack on Altea's great steam engines causes chaos and destabilization; Merric's attempt to get to the bottom of things leads him on a truly bizarre odyssey involving airships, gears, arc lights, goggles, and Linde.  Oh, yes, and the permeable boundary between technology and magic.

Basically, the underlying premise is that the dragons of Archanea fostered technological development among humans instead of tutoring them in access to magic.  Canonically, the dragons had technology they used themselves, and the magic seen in the games is a substitute to bring humanity up to an equivalent standard of living.  So this would be an alternate timeline that assumes that the dragon technology, whatever that consisted of, wasn't lost.

Anyone interested in working on this, for a big bang or anything else, sign up right here.

 I guess I'm not much of a steampunk fan after all, given that the World Steam Expo is currently going on within walking distance of my house and I've decided to stay inside and read books.  My excuse is, it's hot.  I don't like heat.  I feel lame, but at the same time, at least I'm reading.  I don't read a lot of actual books these days because my left eye goes wobbly (I was supposed to do exercises as a teenager to strengthen that eye, and I didn't).  I don't have the same problem when reading a monitor, so it seems to be a distance issue.  Yesterday I ripped through In the Heart of the Sea and today I've plowed through half of The Last Stand by the same author.  [Note-- links to amazon.com do not constitute an endorsement; I bought my copies of the above at actual local bookstores, thank you.]  So now my head is filled with thoughts of vengeful sea beasts, cannibalism, ritual mutilation, and hand-to-hand combat.  Perfect for writing.

I can hear that steam train blowin' away over at the Expo, though.  Sigh.

Also, it's now officially ice cream season, so I've dusted off my trusty old Donvier and will be making a French vanilla custard base tonight so I can have fresh ice cream tomorrow.  I was thinking of a fresh fruit ice cream-- peach, strawberry, or banana-- but my excellent spouse wanted to have ice cream with ginger-ale pound cake, and vanilla just seemed to be the most sensible route.  Still, there is nothing in the world like a fresh banana or fresh strawberry ice cream... and few desserts as repulsive as store-bought banana anything.  Thanks to recent posts by myaru  I have a craving for scones, but again it's Too Darned Hot, so I bought a five-pack from an allegedly good bakery to sate the craving.  Oh, and some clotted cream to put on them.  It turned out to be a very expensive shopping run, as I insisted on cream from the local dairy to put in my ice cream and nearly went for a glass bottle of non-homogenized milk.  Maybe next time.

FE12 thoughts for the day: I suspect, based on what was done to Knorda Slave Market in FE11, that certain elements of the FE12 script will be bowdlerized from the Monshou no Nazo script equivalent.  Frex, I will be interested to see how the slavery issue is handled, if it's even mentioned, in the chapter featuring the Wolfsguard.  Also, FE3 as it stands has a whole lotta rapin' going on-- basically, if you made a drinking game out of it with one shot per reference to or implication of rape or molestation, I'd be really drunk by the end of Chapter Six.  If the slave market was too heavy for modern audiences, I suppose Lang's Nest of Vice will be toned way down.

I'll get around to frothing over the whole "Lord promotion" ball of stupidity next time.