29 November 2007

Pirates

Okay, so I kinda skipped math today, but I spent a long time researching ancient piracy in and around the Mediterranean. For my research paper. On pirates. Go me. Anyway, it's fascinating. There were huge pirate confederacies all through the first millenium BC, up until the rise of the Roman Empire. Like, HUGE. The Aetolian League was a huge organization of pirates that acted as mercenaries, and then later Cicilia was a pirate base, and Cicilian pirates are possibly the largest known confederation of pirates in ancient history. These were all really nasty guys, of course, but being who I am, I find it fascinating.

A PIRATE IS...

a person who attacks and robs ships at sea.

a person who appropriates or reproduces the work of another for profit without permission, usually in contravention of patent or copyright

a person or organization that broadcasts radio or television programs without official authorization

So really, is a pirate anyone who goes around pillaging and taking what doesn't belong to them, or is it specifically sea-based? Really, people like the Vikings could qualify as pirates if the definition were broadened. Whereas if you use terms like...

A CORSAIR

a privateer, esp. one operating along the southern coast of the Mediterranean in the 17th century.

another name for a pirate, from the Latin word for race, cursus. Corsairs were also known as racers and tended to use small vessels to attack, often ships much larger than theirs.

originally applied to the piractical ships of the North African Barbary states, but in English usage was often exptended to include any enemy privateer.

so a PRIVATEER is...

an armed ship owned and officered by private individuals holding a government commission and authorized for use in war, esp. in the capture of enemy merchant shipping.

a commander or crew member of such a ship, often regarded as a pirate.

Okay, so if you use a more specific term, such as corsair, privateer, or possibly freebooter, scallywag, buccaneer, do you mean pirate more specifically than you do when you SAY pirate?

Though really, this is all contemplation, because there's no way I'm doing a paper on everything that could remotely be conceived as being piracy throughout the history if the world. It would be, like, a million pages long. So it's fun to contemplate but I'll be sticking to the sea raiders definition. Heh.

[Added through a glass darkly to links, Valera Elenhathel from A-U's blog, and her NaNoWriMo journal. Very good, people should read]

~Sil

"Use the force, Harry!"

27 November 2007

At long last...

I AM GETTING A LAPTOP!

That's right. Me. With a laptop. Because in exactly three weeks my uncle is coming from Toronto and he's bringing his old Mac with him, which I am subsequently buying. I'm SO psyched. I'll be able to bring it places, and use it in front of the fire and on the couch and stuff, and I'll get SO much more writing done (always good). I'm practically glowing.

In other news, we finally have a decent amount of snow, which is deserving of a W00t W00t (because I don't have to shovel it, mwaha), making Amy an all-round happy camper. Yay.

~Sil

24 November 2007

Little things

It makes my day when (in no particular order)...

People tell me I'm pretty
I find something I thought I'd lost
Someone says they missed me
I come home and there's a fire in the fireplace
I realize that my dog and God will always love me, no matter what (Ephesians 3:17-19!)
I discover that someone cared about how I felt when I thought nobody had noticed
Everybody thought I was wrong and then they discover I was right
Someone remembers how much Melda likes dragons
I get an idea I had thought wouldn't come
God reminds me that He cares about the little things
I discover someone's been collecting Starburst wrappers just for me
I can't stop laughing about something, even after people start giving me strange looks
I see PotC posters in HMV and remember about that thing called a Christmas wish list
My dad knows more about popular music than I do
I can go to bed and drift off forgetting stuff that worries me and imagining scenes to put in a book
I make my dad laugh
I wake up and it's snowed
I complete a whole crossword puzzle without having to look anything up

~Sil

21 November 2007

Life in general

So...I have nothing to blog about again. There haven't been many huge oh-my-gosh-that-was-amazing bits of life lately...unless, of course, you count the quiz meet. Which was pretty fun, Southgate did well, and I kinda realized that I actually can make it to Great West this year. I don't know if I quite subconsciously believed it before. Anyway, I ranked 19th out of (I believe) 67 in division A, and assuming my score in the next one is about in in the top 12 or so (because it's only half of Alberta and therefore you need to place higher to retain your place provincewide) and top 25 in the one after that...I'm set for Great West. It's pretty exciting.

Other than that, life continues. I really want Christmas to come, mostly because I pretty much love Christmas...and the accompanying holiday from school/piano. No holiday from quizzing - at least, not much. I'm hardcore. This is about the time of year I go to church and mutter about how we're not singing enough Christmas carols. Go me.

Piano's also continued the way it mostly does...what's been happening (strangely) more and more this year is that I'll think I've had a mediocre, okay week and then I'll go into my lesson and she'll really like everything and be impressed and I'll be like "...okay? I guess I'm good with this." It happened a bit last year, but more now. I'm playing a couple of cool carols, The Most Wonderful Time of the Year in the style of Johann Strauss, and Sleigh Ride in the style of Haydn...so that's fun...

And I just finished an hour and a half solid of said piano and I'm zonked. So whatever I write from now on will make no sense whatsoever. Later :P

~Sil

13 November 2007

Phantom Grey

Well, I had nothing to blog about, and then the Aiel Reindeer suggested I do Phantom Grey. So I am.

Phantom Grey, you see, is a name that originated when my uncle got a new car. It was a bit dark outside, so we were looking at it out the living room window, and wanting to know what color it was, because it was hard to tell. So my mom asked, and he gets this funny look on his face and says, "Phantom Grey." So we all laughed about the funny color, but it instantly made me think of, well, the Phantom. And it just so happened that LDM was doing a Best RPG Idea contest at that point in time, so I came up with a story around the name Phantom Grey:

The name crept in among them. Nobody knew how…but one thing was certain: the night before the sudden assassination of the King's Heir, a daughter Silvryn Seilhera and the most promising Princess to grace Kytana's streets in a century, there had been no Phantom Grey. No whispers in the night, no mutters in the day.

Stories of him varied. To the nobles he was a dastardly villain, murderer of their precious Princess - a yarn said to have been circulated by the High Vizier, who now would ascend to the throne after the king's imminent demise. To the traders he was a thief and a trickster, a dancing shadow of moon and stars. To the children he was a bedtime story, a tale to be told in hushed tones by the fire. But to the peasants, perhaps most accurately, he was Phantom Grey - secretive and sinister but at times unexpectedly noble, a rescuer.

Events took their course, as events will, and presently the King did indeed die, and his Vizier ascended to Regentship until an heir was a come of age. There were several, nephews and nieces of the Royal family, and for a time all was thought to be well and good, or as well and good as could be under the circumstances.

But first one little niece died. Then the oldest nephew. And in the course of a grief-filled six months the rest were laid to rest by some disease that came like a thief in the night - like a phantom, though he was not its cause - and the Regent looked very much like ascending completely to Kingship and control over Kytana.

But the Phantom's strikes increased forthwith until the Regent could not so much as send a caravan to the nearby sea for salt and fish than they came tearing back, money stolen and prize possessions likewise spirited away. Strangely, the peasants endured no such hardship, indeed they almost appeared to be benefiting. And young men who would prove valuable to the Regent's army disappeared overnight, their families hard-faced and uncommunicative as to their whereabouts. Young women, too, left their kin suddenly while disapproving elders muttered about their duty to marry and bear children. And occasionally whole families disappeared altogether, almost always ones who were desperately in debt or convicted of some crime.

And the Phantom's power grew, even though none had ever seen him.

But so much more than the nobles or the Regent ever suspected was at the Phantom's disposal. In a great network of caves deep underneath the Earth's Teeth, a formidable mountain range skirting Kytana and separating it from nearby Vidyr, a growing community exists - and a devoted band of the Phantom's followers.

But the Regent is not content to sit docile, allowing what he now thinks of as his kingdom to have its resources sucked dry by some taunting rebel. He begins to arrest many, often on little or no charges. But some of his attacks have struck their target…and will the Phantom be next, to join the growing ranks of his imprisoned followers? To hang dangling from a noose as the sun sets, abandoning Kytana to a merciless usurper?

Find out.


And that was Phantom. His actual name is Phaerin Grey and he's the son of a high-ranking nobleman, but not many people actually know that. His second-in-command as of now is Jamie's Kjan Armadur, who's an extremely amusing character. In total the party of main characters consists of:
Phantom Grey, leader (me)
Eledhe Darkstar, resident mercenary and magic-user (me)
Kjan Armadur, second-in-command (Jamie/PotR)
Silvryn Seilhera, *supposed* heir to the throne (created by me, but played by Jamie/PotR)
[those are the main four, who've been there all through the story]
Jateyani Ralkaien, actual heir to the throne (though the characters haven't discovered it yet) (Nurrantiel Mashiara)
Ash and Threng, don't-really-know-what-they-are (Elenya and Nauriel Rochnur)
Jais, comic relief (LDM)
Belnarr, resident dwarf (LDM)
Falch'nus, convenient villain to be brought in when needed (LDM)
Dante Salone, who used to court Kjan's older sister. Actual profession: cartographer/guide. (Fencing Maiden)
and most recently:
Ayden Mandar, other possible heir to the throne. Gotta have possibilities. (zeh Reindeer)

Only the first four have been there all through, and the others have had bits where they've come in. I don't think I forgot anyone. Anyway, you can find the thread here.

~Sil

"You know, I think we're two of the only people who regularly adjust our schedules to suit that of someone diagonally across the continent."

08 November 2007

I actually have nothing much to blog about

I just figured it was time for a post. Let's see...what's been going on in my life lately...it's been mostly the same as usual. Nothing especially gripping. I kinda abandoned Mists of Avalon about 4/5 of the way through, because it was getting boring and I knew what was coming and I never like reading about the collapse of Arthur's court. Mordred also made me very edgy. And I really did not appreciate some of the weird romantic pairings she stuck in there. I prefer slightly more canon Arthur, thank you very much. Anyway, I started Stone of Tears by Terry Goodkind. It's a really thick book, and at this point I don't know if it's quite worth finishing. It hasn't gripped me yet, and I've given it a good couple of chapters. Also started The Kingdom of the Golden Dragon by Isabel Allende, which is a bit more interesting. Other books by her have been slightly odd, but she's a good writer. Actually, I started another book last night, too - The Separated but someone whose name I don't remember, and probably isn't worth remembering. There are certain books that you open and immediately know you could write them better. This was one of them.

I'm really looking forward to Christmas. As in, really. I'm not quite sure why, but I'm totally in the mood for it. I was playing carols on the piano yesterday and wishing we were already into December. Ah well, I can wait.

~Sil

"Oh yeah? Well, I just de-voluntold myself!"