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Barroth Ecology

The sun scorched down overhead. Birds circled above the desert, cawing, and on the edge of the dunes a Barroth ground its head against hardened orange stone. The theropod glanced nervously behind it – a faint tremor had run through the ground only seconds ago. When nothing moved, it turned back to its task, smashing its hardened, dome head against the rock. Once, twice - the third time was successful. The stone tower cracked, then teetered, before finally falling over backwards, sending up a huge burst of dirt and sand. From within the rock – now revealed to be an enormous nest – swarmed ants. Hundreds, thousands of black insects, each the size of a human finger, scurrying back and forth in a panic. The Barroth lowered its head to the breach in the nest, crunching through hordes of the insects. Focused on its prize, it failed to notice the sands shifting behind it, shifting and twisting… before an ungodly roar broke the desert calm, shrill and piercing. The Barroth snapped to attention, turning from the nest and finding itself metres away from a Diablos. Wyverns of the sand, Diablos were larger and more aggressive than Barroth, with huge curved horns mounted on a frilled head and a thick, club-like hammer of a tail. Knowing that it was helplessly outmatched – and that Diablos defended their territory fiercely – the Barroth fled, clambering over the fallen anthill and towards the rocky canyons. Behind it the Diablos growled, and lowered its head to charge. It sped across the sands, far faster than the fleeing Barroth – but caught its left horn on the broken remains of the anthill, throwing it off balance and twisting its neck around sharply. Dazed, confused, it roared again, but by now the Barroth was rapidly disappearing, loping towards the relative safety of the canyons and the marshy bogs that lay beyond them. The terrain changed rapidly; sand dunes gave way to rocky scree and dark, cool caves. A gentle splashing could be heard further uphill – a river meandering down from the highlands, filling up bogs and suffusing the underground cave system with water. The Barroth followed the sound and the smell. Time spent in the desert had hardened and dried its protective, muddy layer, turning it brittle, and now it needed replenishing. Pausing only to snap impatiently at a flock of Reovultures, the Brute Wyvern soon made it back to its prized territory, splashing knee-deep into the water. Satisfied there were no predators overhead, it lay down completely in the sludge, rolling on its back to work the mud into the all the cracks and crevices of its brown scaled skin. The act took only moments to complete, but left the Brute Wyvern covered in a wet, protective layer. And just in time – from the far end of the bog came a heavy splash, as a Jyuratodus jumped in from a rocky overhang. Large, fish-like Piscine Wyverns well adapted to the bogs and marshes, Juratodos competed with Barroth for territory. The intruder hissed, baring a mouth full of sharp fangs. Not to be intimidated, the Barroth – a young adult female – roared, hoping to scare the mud-covered Piscine Wyvern into retreat. Neither backed down – at the height of the dry season, large bogs were a scarce commodity. Being vanquished could lead to dehydration and death. Without warning, the Jyuratodos shot forward, sliding speedily and effortlessly through the muck with powerful horizontal beats of its tail. The Barroth waited, watching the approach – then slammed its crowned head down into the sludge. The dome, capable of knocking down colossal stone anthills, made a significant impression on the skull of the unfortunate Jyuratodos. Stunned, concussed, it remained frozen as the Barroth smacked its head down again and again, brown water spraying out each time. Bleeding and dazed, it finally came to its senses, squirming out of the way of a fourth follow-up blow and splashing to the edge of the bog. There it leapt back out onto the sun-drenched rocks without a backwards glance. Territory suitably defended, the Barroth wandered to the deepest part of its quagmire, submerged almost completely. There it waited out the rest of the scorching desert day in peace.

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Anjanath Ecology

The sun was setting over the lowlands, suffusing the sky with a glorious golden hue. Everywhere around noise could be heard – the tweeting of birds, chirping of insects, the splashing of waves. The Anjanath was not interested in any of these sounds. Instead, the hulking theropod was perched on the edge of the treeline, sniffing curiously at the air. Though similar in structure to other Brute Wyverns – tall, bipedal, and with a large tail for balance – the Anjanath had several unique features, including smooth pink skin and tufts of black feathers running along its back. Its most unusual feature, however, was its large nose crest. Normally this lay flat against the skull, but it could be inflated and extended into its current bulbous shape, giving the Anjanath a superlative sense of smell. It was with this organ the Anjanath sniffed the evening air. Various scents filled its nostrils – the salt of the ocean, the loamy jungle soils – but none of these was as intriguing as another key scent. Tonight the Anjanath could smell carrion. Pausing only to snort a chunk of mucus onto a nearby tree (thereby marking its territory), the Anjanath descended from the forest, following the path of a river trickling downhill towards the beach. The tree cover vanished, replaced quickly by grasslands, verdant and lush. The sweet, sickly smell of dead flesh grew thicker in the air; the Anjanath followed the trail, prowling stealthily along the riverbank. Within minutes the corpse came into view; an Aptonoth, lying dead by the riverside. Distantly the lowing of the heard drifted over on the wind as they foraged the area; with no visible wounds, the carcass must have belonged to an old or sick individual. The Anjanath knew only that it needed to feed. It roared a warning at the Revoltures, carrion-eating birds, already pecking at the body. They scattered, flying off in all directions, but did not travel far – they knew their turn would come. Without ceremony the Anajanth began to consume its meal, tearing chunks from the carcass with its powerful jaws. Skin, muscle, bone – all were crunched and swallowed. Abruptly the wind rose up, whipping the grass back and forth. The Anjanath looked up from its food – another visitor had arrived, seemingly from nowhere. A large, silver-grey dragon, with wings running the length of its body and enveloped in a shroud of wind – a legendary Elder Dragon, the Kushala Daora. Kushala Daora are fearsome creatures, and normally more than able to vanquish an Anjanath – but on this occasion something was wrong. The Elder Dragon dropped from the sky, blasting wind all over the vicinity, but it landed awkwardly, one foreleg buckling under its own weight. It spied the carcass – an easy, replenishing meal – then locked its gaze with the theropod standing over it. They sized each other up, roaring aggressively. The Kushala Daora took a step forward, holding its injured foreleg off the ground, trying to intimidate the other scavenger away without the need for a fight. Holding its ground, the Anjanath stood firm – before unfurling its large, yellow sails from its back. The sudden change in appearance made it appear much larger, more aggressive. Flinching, the Kushala Daora took half a step back, suddenly confused and uncertain. Sensing victory, the Anjanath advanced from the carcass, lowering its head and spitting a thin tongue of flame at its competitor. Most of it was dissipated in the Elder Dragon’s windy aura, but it had the desired effect nonetheless; the Kushala Daora roared in surprise and frustration, scurrying further back. With rapid slams of its huge wings, it took to the air once more, the force of the disturbance almost blowing the Aptonoth carcass away. Wings beating and filling the air below with turbulence, it flew over towards the forest, and out of sight. Satisfied, the Anjanath returned to its meal, devouring the whole corpse in a matter of minutes. When it was finished, it raised its nose to the air again, another smell drifting up from the shoreline – more carrion.

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Book 3

“I will borrow the body of this warrior…” Dark mist began to pour from the temple ceiling, streaming down onto Felacia’s prone body. The vapour boiled and condensed, obscuring her in a dark fog. That same fog began to expand, swallowing her body altogether and swelling ever larger, but keeping the same rough outline.

Eammon wasted valuable seconds looking on in horror. When he finally snapped backed to reality, the process was over – before him stood a gigantic, horned demon, blacker than the darkest shadow, so large it filled the temple from floor to ceiling. Faint spots of white light were scattered upon its body, and the eyes burned with a vivid purple flame. “Ohhh, but I am FREE!” roared the demon, throwing its arms wide with a burst of magical power. The shockwave sent some of Eammon’s men flying, but he had no time to worry about them now; if this beast was not stopped here, the kingdom would be ravaged.

Chanting the words of power, he raised Asphodel above his head, high and glimmering, before bringing it crashing down on the stone floor. The golden bulb at the head of the staff spun, shining with power, and a concentrated beam of blue light burst forth, catching the demon directly in the chest. It screamed, burning and withering under the assault… but then the magic faded, and Asphodel was inert once more.

The demon chuckled, a horrible, deep sound that seemed to resonate inside Eammon’s skull. “You burn like the sun, little man… but I am the Void King. I am as cold and distant as the stars.”

The room in front of Eammon vanished in an instant.

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I don't understand why people ask writers where they get their ideas from. Ideas are easy. If you've got an active enough imagination, you can have a different idea strike every day on the way to work. The real question should be "where do you find the willpower to sit down in front of a blank MS Word document and type out a series of works until they form an approximate representation of the glorious images in your head". 'Cause that bit's tough as nails. Made of diamond. Wrapped in more diamond.

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I don't know why, but I always seem to write better after 10pm.

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Crown of the Old Iron King

Ok, I didn't enjoy it quite as much Crown of the Sunken King, but it's still a very enjoyable piece of DLC. Got some serious Stonefang Tunnel vibes in places, which can only be a good thing. Plus two very good boss-fights (the less said about the recycled one, the better).

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Crown of the Sunken King

The Dark Souls 2 DLC isn't better than the entire rest of the game put together, but it certainly has aspirations in that direction.

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I can't play vanilla Minecraft anymore. I just can't. It's little things I miss, like not being able to grind down ores into dust, or missing all the Biomes o' Plenty biomes, or not having simple machines. Ah well.

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I swear it's easier to just program an entirely new game than it is to get Minecraft mods to work.

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Something stirring in the dark...

So today for the fairly terrible, generic YA fantasy novel I'm writing, I cobbled together a chapter about a grave-robbery gone wrong... and there wasn't even any corpse resurrection!  Maybe I can add living dead later on.

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A thousand eyes and... two, apparently.

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"The Greyjoys are treasonous whores!" - Roose Bolton, the most loyal man in Westeros.

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Thoughts on Ideas

So the problem with doing anything creative - writing, drawing, anything like that - is that you start off with an idea in your mind. And the idea is always perfect, glorious, untouchable. But then you try to transfer the idea into a form where other people can appreciate its brilliance, either by writing, drawing, etc, and it always ends up imperfect. The shading's not quite right, or the dialogue isn't flowing, or whatever. And it's so frustrating... but all you can do is keep trying, and get better, until your work bears at least a crude resemblance to your ideas.

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So you want to make an OC?: A Masterpost of Ways to Create, Develop, and Make Good OCs!

i made this masterpost in hopes that it helps you in making your own OCs ah;; it can also apply to developing RP characters i suppose! if you’d like to add more resources then go for it sugar pea (´ヮ`)!

How to Write Better OCs:

basic tips on how to make your oc even better

tragic backstory? learn how to write one/make yours great

writing specific characters

a wordier, great guide on how to develop your character

kick out those vague descriptions and make them AWESOME

Character Development:

how to actually make an OC

Q&A (to develop characters)

more Q&As

giving your character a backstory

how to write an attractive character

Diversity

adding more racial diversity

avoiding tokenism, AKA, how to add diversity to your cast not just because you “need” it

writing sexuality and gender expression (doesnt include non binary, if you have a good ref to that, please add on!)

masterpost on writing more diversity into your story

cultures of the world

guides to drawing different ethnicities (not just a great art reference, but also really helpful in appearance descriptions!)

Mary Sue/Gary Stu

Test to see if your character is a Sue

Explains subdivisions of Sues/Stus

Powerful Characters Don’t Have to Be Sues

Villains

villain generator

need an evil sounding name for your evil character? bam

villain archetypes

what’s your villain’s motive for being a villain?

Relationships

character perceptions (What your character thinks of themselves and what others think of them)

how to write strong relationships between two characters

8 ways to write better characters and develop their relationships with others

OCxLove Interest Handbook 

develop your couple with good ol’ Q&A!

how to write realistic relationships

how to write relatives for your characters (this is more OC related to a canon character, but will help in writing family members in general)

ARCHETYPES

12 common archetypes

8 archetypes for male/female characters

female archetypes (goes pretty indepth from two main categories)

a list of archetypes

NAMES

how to name your character

random name generator

most common surnames

surnames by ethnicity

APPEARANCE

tips for better design

basic appearance generator

pinterest board for character design (includes NSFW and images of skeletons/exposed muscle (?) so tread carefully!)

clothing ref masterpost

DETAILS

give your character better powers

a list of professions

proactive vs reactive characters

positive and negative traits

interest generator

skills generator

motivation generator

123 ideas for character flaws

list of phobias

again, this is to help inspire you or help establish your OCs! i hope you get a lot of info and help from this ahh ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

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With the work dying down a bit at Uni, I can go back to editing my probably never-to-be-published novel. Hooray!

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IT’S HERE!

The new Doctor’s ‘costume’ has been revealed.

Commenting on his costume, Peter Capaldi said: “He’s woven the future from the cloth of the past. Simple, stark, and back to basics. No frills, no scarf, no messing, just 100 percent Rebel Time Lord.”  While lead writer and executive producer Steven Moffat added: “New Doctor, new era, and of course new clothes. Monsters of the universe, the vacation is over - Capaldi is suited and booted and coming to get you!” 

Read more about the costume, its creation and The Twelfth Time Lord here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/doctorwho/articles/Peter-Capaldi-Doctor-Who-Costume-Revealed-

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Not sure if noisy or hallucinating, I'm so tired. Sleeeeeep.