#'don't put your ideas online if you don't people to steal em!'

[melancholicmarionette]

Another nameless fantasy project infodump

Important Concordia Faculty & Staff (This is like a severe understatement I hate typing on my phone, there is so much more I wanted to write) Hasannah headmaster of Concordia Academy. A night elf native to Opral, she traveled to the Artraria-Prainia to pursue an education during the Great War, and though her brilliance got her accepted into one of the kingdom's higher schools, she was never allowed to forget how lucky she was to even set foot on the campus. Though she struggled with programs designed to keep her and other non-humans down, she used this educational experience -- along with her people's incredible memory and cognitive capabilities -- to assist her in becoming one of the most masterful linguists in the known world, speaking over 30 languages (with varying degrees of proficiency based on how prevalent a language or dialect is used). Being able to communicate with others and discovering the differences in cultures instilled her with a desire to bring people together, and when the Great War officially ended, she saw this as an opportunity. Knowing how formative her education was in her youth, her first idea was to establish a school with the goal of bringing the newly peaceful world together, to learn to understand, care for, and respect each other with the ultimate goal of preventing another bloody, unjust war. This school became Concordia Academy, the name stemming from the common tongue word "concord," meaning harmony and agreement among varying groups of people. Night Elves have a notoriously unusual appearance compared to the more human appearances Wood Elves, Coast Elves, and Glacier Elves. Unlike the varying flesh tones and standard eye colors of other elf species, Night Elves sport deep gray, heavily calloused skin and red eyes, due to being born and growing up in the near complete darkness of mines and caves. Though new generations have lowered light sensitivity, their bodies have not evolved to exclude the biological protective measures against the sun they used to require to live. Hasannah's hair matches her eyes, a deep scarlet, and she stands at nearly six feet and possess immense strength from hard labor she had to do as a child. She is a very imposing figure and her authoritative demeanor is befitting of a headmaster -- though she does have a soft spot for all of her young students and hopes they grow and become the best they can be. Hasannah, at the story's start, is around 129 years old, though she looks to be in her late 30s. Belmont If geography professor Belmont has a full name, he has not shared it. It is unknown if Belmont is his first name or surname -- not even Hasannah knows, though it's more because she sensed a desire for privacy and simply hasn't pressed him. A damphyr (half-vampire), he took advantage of his little need for food and sleep in his youth to travel the world and become an expert cartographer, hoping to discover new places and new people. He was the one who discover the island of Sertari still existed, as it was long thought to have been swallowed up by the maelstrom. He also discovered their dislike of outsiders when he was nearly skewered by spear when his small ship was spotted off the coast. He still reported it to Hasannah, telling her if she wanted to attempt to get a Sertari child to attend, the only way to reach them would be by air. He carries a flask with him everywhere he goes, filled with animal blood to discreetly stave off cravings and avoid frightening students. Many new students believe at first that he is a heavy drinker, until the semester continues and he proves his wit is as sharp as anyone's -- so it's a common game among older students to tell first years differing and increasingly ridiculous accounts of what's in it (Belmont will tell them if asked and would very much like this game to stop). He cares very deeply for students who seem to be ostracized and will go out of his way to make sure they feel safe at Concordia. Belmont looks to be in his 30s as well, but due to being a damphyr this is a misnomer, he is actually 65. Asahi Asahi is Concordia's healer and runs the school's infirmary. She is a essentially as close to a prodigy as a witch can get, knowing advanced magic despite being 28 years old (the youngest Concordia staff member). Since healing magic is by far the simplest to learn, Hasannah told Asahi that if she would take time to heal students when they were sick or injured, she could make use of the school's rare Spellmaster, a large machine allowing magic users to view the content of spells and hexes (such as Timelocks [indicating whether a spell is permanent or will wear off after a set amount of time], Metamorphs [if any physical changes made by a spell or hex are actually harmful to the body or merely cosmetic], and the Levels [how advanced the magic users must be to cast the spell successfully]). The more dramatic effect of the spell, the more components there are. This also allows her to craft her own spells and while she does like to experiment, most of her projects are healing-based, to make her job and students' lives easier. Asahi is a workaholic if there ever was one -- when she isn't looking after students, she's researching and experimenting. Many of her coworkers joke that the bed in her small apartment just off the infirmary has never been slept in. Asahi works so hard because of her gratitude towards Hasannah for giving her both a job and a home far away from the difficult life she had been living. NOTE: Asahi's name is pronounced "a-sigh" Concordia Academy The school, which would not only teach simple essentials such as arithmetic, world history, geography, and a common tongue, also offers classes in magic for young magic-users, engineering and alchemy for those inclined toward the sciences, and most importantly the history of all magical races and cultures, which students take various forms three out of the five years they attend the school. Concordia is a boarding school with dorms that can house up to 1,000 students. Every magical race is offered a full-ride scholarship for one student, preferably around 13 years old (the people themselves decide who attends, it's usually the child of a high ranking member of their society, but not always) in order to create a level of diversity beneficial to the students. There is also the option for families to pay tuition for their children to attend (scholarship money & general funding has to come from somewhere), and because Concordia has achieved a kind of prestige over the years, many parents (mostly from the kingdoms) will reserve spaces years before their children are even old enough to attend, due to preference being given to scholarship students. Hasannah hates having to tell parents willing to pay to attend the school she's so proud of that there is no room left for their child. Students attend Concordia for 5 years, and the graduation rate is high. The end goal of graduation is for the scholarship students to become disseminators of basic knowledge, which was thought to be a lot of responsibility to put on an 18-year-old, but the reception has been positive. Hasannah is disappointed that there are certain races she has not been able to get to attend -- she has sent invitations to the Sertari tribe for years with no response, and when she broached the idea of inviting a Merikh she received severe pushback, primarily parents threatening to not let their students attend if there was a "demon" floating around the school. However, as the 100th anniversary of the war's end arrives and the school-hosted Centennial Festival approaching, Hasannah made the invitation. What could go wrong? (See "nameless fantasy project" tag for examples of what could go wrong)

[rootandrock]

So, I'm working on a lot of projects right now and...

I know people like watching that sort of thing, and I greatly value the sort of feedback sharing the process can provide, but I'm gun-shy of making a Patreon commitment because The General Internets have begun regarding Patreon as a kind of online store. I'm not at all opposed to providing perks in return for contributions, but I too often see a model where people end up spending so much time fulfilling patreon perks that they never get to their own creations and end up deep in the red (both financially and emotionally). That said, I want your opinions on crowdfunding and the stuff I do - so take a peek behind the read more.

I'm also gun-shy about posting "in public" because, well... creating isn't a 1:1 exchange, and people read about a project and expect that they're going to get the results in a timely manner. Unfortunately, life is very good at kicking you in the shins and stealing your wallet. I, too, want that damned familiar book to be done, but it happens on it's own time (to be frank, I haven't been in a headspace for writing in a long time - that's changing though). And terse "well where is it?!" messages kill the already tender creative vibe.

I have full workshops I have unfettered access to that are only mostly hotter than the interior of Satan's bunghole right now, and I'm currently [Non-Employed? Jobn't? Existing in a tepid pool of commissions?]. I'm finally feeling creative for the first time in actual years. I might as well do something with that, right? A little of the old "life gives you lemons, but also sugar... so obviously you should make some lemonade."

Right now I'm working on: Ogham, Futhark, "Witch Runes" and (one more!) tiles to mold to make creating "runes" much easier, more consistent, and (potentially) far more detailed than I previously offered. A Lenormand Deck done in inks and watercolors with a homey, spooky, "dark cottagecore" Witch theme that I plan to have professionally printed and offer for sale somehow, at some point (decks are expensive to have made so I'm still working on that aspect - probably presales to hit a particular pricing bracket). Custom Molds of original sculpts and designs. Tiny altar statues (proof of concept for larger ones), bellarmine jars/bottles, altar plates/peytons/pentacles, spirit vessels etc. I've finally found a company that's not super-christian that does custom mold making, so ... fingers crossed? Bespoke Incenses and Oils. Some of them from the various "hefty price tag" grimoires, some of my own design. Some of these will never be available for public sale due to their nature so the only way to hear about 'em, let alone procure 'em, would be this theoretical patron hidey hole. The Big Herb Garden. Big garden. Lots of witching herbs. From Jezebel Root to an irresponsibly large collection of Artemisias, to The Datura Corner Where We Never Tread. Ensuring that plants that are routinely misrepresented, or hard to find in the "trade", are available without damaging already threatened populations in the wild. Short chapbooks on occult stuff (and if I'm lucky the Familiar Book). Oh please, let the notes coalesce into cogent thoughts. Please just become a book. Please. I actually already have one of these completed, just been procrastinating getting a test print done because InDesign is evil. I have three more I'm poking at on Mandrakes, how to make a Basilisk (and why that's a bad idea), and Spirit Vessels.

So... help me out here. Tell me if you wanna see this stuff, what your level of wanting to see it is, where you'd prefer to see it, etc.

As an example: I'd been leaning toward using Kofi (which can be single-time tips, or monthly) as a Discord integration manager, and putting most everything up on Discord as I go (because it's very easy to do from a phone without interrupting The Process), with intermittent recaps on Kofi, and a few posts here, for people who don't like chats. I'd also try to work in some kind of thank you for the folks who contribute a lot. And there'd be other chatrooms for book talk or whatever not tied to the crowdfunding.

And to be very transparent: Any profits go toward helping an LGBTQIA+ businessperson and crafter get free of a rotten living situation. That's my motivation, that's where the dollars (past supplies for projects) would end up. Late 2019 I had enough savings to get started on my own micro-budget tinyhouse and was waiting for decent weather... but then 2020 ... and then the price of lumber nearly quadrupled, priced me out, and stuck me here through a situation of escalating toxicity and a job loss. If that sorta thing gives you the warm and fuzzies, that's what the backing would do. Let me know what you think. I'll take it all into consideration, and see where things end up.