C.J. Moseley's Blog, page 167
February 28, 2014
Ironmaster Session 28/2/14
At the end of last month we had another Ironmaster Session, but it largely dealt with updating characters in down-time and finishing off some things from previous sessions.
Which means it's that time again.
This session I hope that we'll get some serious world-building done, I need to explore some historical aspects of the Regina-Venefica steampunk universe. It's been a busy month with school holidays and lots of writing to fit in, and all that writing has raised a few quezzies...
Also, the character Mercurio and his Mentor have built a cognitive engine that packs the same kind of processing power into the same kind of space as a real human brain. Naturally enough, for the universe, the Ottoman empire's enormous thinking machines are very interested in this technology, especially as they own the original Mechanimal patents that the brain is designed upon (they were awarded/gifted the patents after the war). They have requested the characters go to Istanbul and meet with them to discuss the terms of the licensing.
Frame: The characters need to get to Istanbul. This is a pretty arduous trek across Europe by ship, or rail. It isn't too bad a trod though, a few skills along the silk-road for most trodders. Jack Faeburne has faster ways of making the good though, and should be able to make the leap in one very difficult step.
Loom: Weft: Having arrived the characters will be soon to a courtesy site for visiting officials, so important do the Ottoman thinking machines think they are. This is a top notch hotel.
The staff are pleasant, but there's something going on, something that should feel creepy and a little strange.
Loom: Warp: The meeting with the minds.
I think there are three Artificial Intelligences, they should be called The Brain, The Turk (named after this one)
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The original mechanical Turk that inspired the Mechanimals in 'Ironmaster' (image from boingboing.net)."]
[/caption]
and The Philosopher. Each one has a separate personality and has differing goals for the deal with Mercurio.
The Brain. Wants to incorporate the new technology into itself, making itself more powerful by replacing its volume with the more intricate new design (although over-heating will be a problem), the Turk would like to reduce its volume with the technology so that it may become more human, able to socialize and move about Europa, The Philosopher simply wants to control the technology, it doesn't actually want the technology for itself, instead it would like to make sure that the Ottoman's get money from the Commonwealth's Mechanimals, licensing the new cognitive engines is a good way of stopping the illegal trade in unlicensed Mechanimals (most western European countries don't even register their Mechanimals properly.
Zenith: The AIs and characters will hopefully come to some kind of agreement. With some kind of licensing agreed the company can go ahead and begin licensed production and mass-production (they might remember to do some proper testing, if they remember to).
We'll see what happens as the players get there, but there are some other things that need examining, such as how the freezing of the courts originally occurred, was it Elizabeth I or did James I do that? (According to the research Annie did on the Black-law and the Covenant of the Commonwealth, the freezing of the courts was an amendment made by James the first of England, he also created the Anti-Infernalism laws, and included the line in his bible translation of 'Thou shalt not suffer an Infernal to live' ).
The other major thing that happened is that Annie and Jack went back in time to the 1940s and arranged for the plans of a German device called the 'Donderkanone' to be stolen from the Blaupunkt factory in Berlin. Annie arranged through her Doom-weaving to have the plans arrive at her husband's new factory in Ely Cambridgeshire.
The plans arrive with their current owner a 15 year old apprentice called Joffrey Oberwulf.
Posted from my mind through Kindle Fire HD
Which means it's that time again.
This session I hope that we'll get some serious world-building done, I need to explore some historical aspects of the Regina-Venefica steampunk universe. It's been a busy month with school holidays and lots of writing to fit in, and all that writing has raised a few quezzies...
Also, the character Mercurio and his Mentor have built a cognitive engine that packs the same kind of processing power into the same kind of space as a real human brain. Naturally enough, for the universe, the Ottoman empire's enormous thinking machines are very interested in this technology, especially as they own the original Mechanimal patents that the brain is designed upon (they were awarded/gifted the patents after the war). They have requested the characters go to Istanbul and meet with them to discuss the terms of the licensing.
Frame: The characters need to get to Istanbul. This is a pretty arduous trek across Europe by ship, or rail. It isn't too bad a trod though, a few skills along the silk-road for most trodders. Jack Faeburne has faster ways of making the good though, and should be able to make the leap in one very difficult step.
Loom: Weft: Having arrived the characters will be soon to a courtesy site for visiting officials, so important do the Ottoman thinking machines think they are. This is a top notch hotel.
The staff are pleasant, but there's something going on, something that should feel creepy and a little strange.
Loom: Warp: The meeting with the minds.
I think there are three Artificial Intelligences, they should be called The Brain, The Turk (named after this one)
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The original mechanical Turk that inspired the Mechanimals in 'Ironmaster' (image from boingboing.net)."]
[/caption]and The Philosopher. Each one has a separate personality and has differing goals for the deal with Mercurio.
The Brain. Wants to incorporate the new technology into itself, making itself more powerful by replacing its volume with the more intricate new design (although over-heating will be a problem), the Turk would like to reduce its volume with the technology so that it may become more human, able to socialize and move about Europa, The Philosopher simply wants to control the technology, it doesn't actually want the technology for itself, instead it would like to make sure that the Ottoman's get money from the Commonwealth's Mechanimals, licensing the new cognitive engines is a good way of stopping the illegal trade in unlicensed Mechanimals (most western European countries don't even register their Mechanimals properly.
Zenith: The AIs and characters will hopefully come to some kind of agreement. With some kind of licensing agreed the company can go ahead and begin licensed production and mass-production (they might remember to do some proper testing, if they remember to).
We'll see what happens as the players get there, but there are some other things that need examining, such as how the freezing of the courts originally occurred, was it Elizabeth I or did James I do that? (According to the research Annie did on the Black-law and the Covenant of the Commonwealth, the freezing of the courts was an amendment made by James the first of England, he also created the Anti-Infernalism laws, and included the line in his bible translation of 'Thou shalt not suffer an Infernal to live' ).
The other major thing that happened is that Annie and Jack went back in time to the 1940s and arranged for the plans of a German device called the 'Donderkanone' to be stolen from the Blaupunkt factory in Berlin. Annie arranged through her Doom-weaving to have the plans arrive at her husband's new factory in Ely Cambridgeshire.
The plans arrive with their current owner a 15 year old apprentice called Joffrey Oberwulf.
Posted from my mind through Kindle Fire HD
Astronomy is so much prettier a science than people give it…
Astronomy is so much prettier a science than people give it credit.
February 27, 2014
February 26, 2014
February 25, 2014
ghoulnextdoor:
alternatehistories, by Matthew Bucholz
Some…
ghoulnextdoor:
alternatehistories, by Matthew Bucholz
Some awesome alternative art history
alternatehistories, by Matthew Bucholz
Some awesome alternative art history
February 16, 2014
Half-Term Hiatus
So its the school holidays again, and I have to hang up my notebooks, pens, laptop, iPhone 3GS (yeah still) and Kindle Fire HD (with the Google Drive App crowbarred in) to entertain that most impossible of audiences, my kids.
Hopefully, there will be lots of fun had, and I'll not be so exhausted by the experience that I'll be able to work twice as hard to catch-up come the 24th. So any messages, comments, tweets, emails or pigeon post responses will begin then.
Then I'll be able to finish up the steampunk extravaganza that is ’Ironmaster' although I'm increasingly thinking that I can come up with a better title for launch. Hopefully I'll have the first-draft finished by the Easter holidays… ready for an Autumn launch, I hope...
Until then you'll just have to reread The Paradox War trilogy - go on its really good, and gets better with each reread apparently (according to the Author’s wife, individual results may vary).
Hopefully, there will be lots of fun had, and I'll not be so exhausted by the experience that I'll be able to work twice as hard to catch-up come the 24th. So any messages, comments, tweets, emails or pigeon post responses will begin then.
Then I'll be able to finish up the steampunk extravaganza that is ’Ironmaster' although I'm increasingly thinking that I can come up with a better title for launch. Hopefully I'll have the first-draft finished by the Easter holidays… ready for an Autumn launch, I hope...
Until then you'll just have to reread The Paradox War trilogy - go on its really good, and gets better with each reread apparently (according to the Author’s wife, individual results may vary).
February 4, 2014
Working hard or hardly working?…
I am deep in the throes of an #amwriting push. Trying to get the first draft of Ironmaster all finished up. Yet again I think that I have decided to write a bigger book than I intended. Although unlike the Paradox War, I don't think that I will be splitting this story.
Instead I will probably be releasing the book as a huge anthology/mosaic novel, with at least one novella length story and two or three novelettes and a good dozen short stories. This means I am probably about half way through the first draft. Some sections and stories go quickly and others are difficult and require carefully picking my way through the narrative.
All of which means that I have neglected to fill my Tumblr queues and so the daily post that occurs on this site (or twice daily when the RSS feeds go wrong) will dry up for a while. When I'm done with the writing this book, I might bring back the Science in Science-Fiction posts (as they do incredibly well drawing google users in at least once a day) and I may get rid of the Tumblr reblogs and flip the whole thing so that Tumblr becomes a broadcast platform for my stories and art during the book promotion phase.
So my current to do list reads something like:
Write Ironmaster first-draftTry not to get distracted by Twitter/Tumblr/StumbleUpon/The interwebs, etcSecond and third draft the stories with editingCreate Ironmaster/Steampunk art to promote the book and use in the bookPublish Ironmaster (and paperback versions of Cu1ture B0mb and Chronoclysm)Make enough sales to keep my business account solvent ;)
Instead I will probably be releasing the book as a huge anthology/mosaic novel, with at least one novella length story and two or three novelettes and a good dozen short stories. This means I am probably about half way through the first draft. Some sections and stories go quickly and others are difficult and require carefully picking my way through the narrative.
All of which means that I have neglected to fill my Tumblr queues and so the daily post that occurs on this site (or twice daily when the RSS feeds go wrong) will dry up for a while. When I'm done with the writing this book, I might bring back the Science in Science-Fiction posts (as they do incredibly well drawing google users in at least once a day) and I may get rid of the Tumblr reblogs and flip the whole thing so that Tumblr becomes a broadcast platform for my stories and art during the book promotion phase.
So my current to do list reads something like:
Write Ironmaster first-draftTry not to get distracted by Twitter/Tumblr/StumbleUpon/The interwebs, etcSecond and third draft the stories with editingCreate Ironmaster/Steampunk art to promote the book and use in the bookPublish Ironmaster (and paperback versions of Cu1ture B0mb and Chronoclysm)Make enough sales to keep my business account solvent ;)
February 1, 2014
I always thought they were doing that to the dresses…
I always thought they were doing that to the dresses…
January 31, 2014
scificity:
Early concept drawings of the Daleks. Sorry for the…
scificity:
Early concept drawings of the Daleks. Sorry for the lack of legibility.http://scificity.tumblr.com
Immortal terror was born a new shape that day
Early concept drawings of the Daleks. Sorry for the lack of legibility.http://scificity.tumblr.com
Immortal terror was born a new shape that day
January 30, 2014
nprglobalhealth:
You can really see how the anti-vaccine…
nprglobalhealth:
You can really see how the anti-vaccine movement drove measles and whooping cough outbreaks in Europe and the U.S. over the past few years. Vaccines work, people! Why not use them?
skunkbear:
These are the disease outbreaks that co...
You can really see how the anti-vaccine movement drove measles and whooping cough outbreaks in Europe and the U.S. over the past few years. Vaccines work, people! Why not use them?
skunkbear:
These are the disease outbreaks that co...
