But I'll start with some new stuff as of today.

For the Rubyverse, I was working on the vampiric martial art some more.

I'm not sure if I had a name in mind for the vampiric martial art before, but now I do. I was thinking the English name for it would be "Moving Tree". I decided on that name for a variety of reasons. The idea behind it is that the user has their roots firmly planted in the ground--the martial art is not one which really involves jumping. It is furthermore one which involves being solidly positioned on the ground, such that nothing fazes the user.

In fact, the implication is also meant to be that the user is as tough as wood, with a hardened body.

And yet, there is also a fluidity in movement inherent in the martial art, the softer, flowing elements as if a tree is being blown by a gentle breeze. These sharp, crisp movements direct things, and can lash out with incredible precision and power.

Plus, there is the fact that branches can be, when sharpened enough, used as if spears--with the implication of impaling enemies upon the 'branches'. (Which in this case would be hands.)

There's more to it than that, but another one of the main reasons I chose that as the name is because it had the aesthetic of a name which sounded like it was plausibly a martial arts name to use. Yes, I haven't done the requisite research on Chinese martial arts that I wanted to, to get a better idea, but I DO know that quite a number of martial arts take HUGE cues from nature in their naming schemes.

And the idea of a tree which moves seems like it is something that could, quite plausibly, come from that culture. (Especially given that one of the traditional Chinese elements is Wood.)

Will I remember to call the vampiric martial art the Moving Tree martial art? Probably not! After all, it's possible this isn't the first name I've given the martial art, it's just the name I came up for it today.

Still, I feel that if nothing else this is a promising name. I'll need to find out what the best non-English name would be, because the non-English name would be the OFFICIAL name for the vampiric martial art, with "Moving Tree" just being the translated-into-English name for said martial art.

Beyond that, I also developed another new technique.
So the knife-guard's signature technique is the impale, from which the impaler stance derives its name; it is also the signature move of the martial art as a whole. While all four of the founding masters of the style were involved in every step of the process, the knife-guard was primarily co-developed by (who else?) both Tepes Lords.

The tri-guard's signature technique is the typhoon strike; while all founding four masters were involved, it was most heavily developed by Victor Wu.

And today, I developed the Claw-guard's signature technique:
Kneading/Purring.

What it is, is basically an existing martial art move in more flowing styles/forms, a circular motion.

The back hand rotates either above or below the front hand, and the front hand rotates either below or above the front hand.

When the front hand goes below the back hand/the back hand goes above the front hand, it is called Kneading; when the front hand goes above the back hand/the back hand goes below the front hand, it is called Purring.
These names originate from how, if you slow the motion down and slightly exaggerate it, what the fingers resemble.

The motion of the hands in Kneading looks a lot like a cat kneading, when slowed down. (At full speed, it's more like a scratch.) The potion of the hands in Purring bends the wrist in such a way that one hand comes back almost to the jaw, in a position which is stereotypically associated with the position you'd see paws placed in on a cat which is purring.

Now, Kneading/Purring can be done in a continuous cycle, where you make a full circle. Backhand to front to back, rotating clockwise or counterclockwise continuously, which is considered continuous kneading/purring. However, far more common is to switch between the two: instantly do a knead/purr, and then snap back with a purr/knead. 

So I'm not quite sure I'm explaining this motion as well as I should.

Basically, know how claw guard is essentially just knife guard except with a curled hand with the fingers apart? Well, it starts with the forward-hand in front, as per the norm for the martial art, and the back-hand in the back, obviously. But the motion snaps the back hand into the front and the front hand into the back.

This can be done in a static position, but is designed to synergize well with moving between the back/defensive stance and the forward/attack stance of the impaler stance. This is also one of the best defensive moves in the arsenal of the martial art, meant to give a continuously rotating guard--in theory, making it much harder to exploit vulnerabilities in defenses.

In all other aspects of the vampiric martial art, unless the hands are involved actively in either a strike, block, or grab or some sort, they remain static. They are locked more or less in a single position, where they rest. Now! Said position happens to be a smart position, one where they can easily in a split second snap a block/strike/etc. out. But the fact remains that an opponent can, if given the chance, see potential weaknesses in the defense because the defense never changes its base position.

This isn't just a vampiric martial art thing. I know from experience in sparring for my tae kwon do that the arms in the guard? Unless they are punching or blocking, they don't tend to move. The legs? They move a plenty. But the arms have more or less a single fixed position, a single 'optimized guard position', where with minimal movement a block/strike can be made.

And I don't think it's just my school.

I think this exists in almost all martial arts. I know they're not the best example, but like. In basically any movie featuring martial arts where the fighting is choreographed in such a way that you can see the fighters have a guard in the first place. The guard doesn't move when not striking/blocking/grappling. It just sits in one position.

It also is there in game animations, too, for the most part. Sprites are animated where the knees bend, the hips bend, there is forward and backward movement where the spine more or less is moving forward and backward. You know the like, it's something you see all the time. Yet when not performing either a block or a strike or a grapple, how often are the sprites' arms actually fluidly moving?

I mean, sure, it happens, but it doesn't happen often. Maybe it's wasted effort, or maybe there's the fear that the movement creates a vulnerability, maybe there's a reason for it. But I also believe that there's a reason why not every martial art does this, why some do have the arm movement I'm more or less talking about--

After all. There are existing forms where the arms move in more or less the way I am talking about. (In fact, I know at least one form from tae kwon do which uses the basic movement I am dubbing in my martial art kneading/purring.)

So I think that, mechanically, it can work as a way to more or less serve to theoretically make it much harder to exploit gaps in defense. And, yes. The movement behind kneading/purring is such that both arms are fully capable of blocking and striking at any moment.

In fact, half the reason to use this is to launch an unexpected attack, most likely a palm strike. Because the rotation is done continuously, and because it only takes ever so slightest the modification of movement to turn the simple rotation into a strike, a blow can be delivered with no warning by using this method.

At least. In theory. I have tested the body mechanics and the idea is at least theoretically sound. It acts pretty much as the counterpart to an existing thing from fighting.

In sparring, already. Your feet aren't meant to be static. They are springy. Bouncy. They have ever so slightest the continuous movement between one another. To allow for the ability to move forward, backward, sideways, in an instant, to react to being hit, and to surprise an opponent by 'invisible movement'. A move with the feet to close distance without revealing you're closing distance, or a kick without revealing you're throwing a kick.

It's a very tae kwon do type thing, but I imagine quite common even outside of it. You move the feet continuously so that your opponent never knows what you are planning to do next, and so that you can always be ready for what your opponent does next.

Kneading/purring, as I envision it, is basically doing the same thing the legs do, except with the hands. Especially since it can rotate two different directions, attacks can come from any number of different locations/times, without warning that there is any deviation from the pattern.

And yes. If you couldn't tell. It was indeed developed primarily by Lord Darkblood, and thus, is the style Ruby adapts for use in Red Hood Rider.

That's the main thing I'll be blogging about today, but I also thought it worth mentioning a dream I had last night.
The dream was almost nested, as a dream within a dream. Almost. It was a situation where I was involved in an event and thought I was more or less on break from a different event (a different dream). In the event I was involved in, I was watching television.

On that television, there was a kids cartoon show playing. Now, I don't remember if this was a real cartoon show, a fictional cartoon show, multiple real cartoon shows meshed up, or some combination of these, but what I do remember quite clearly was, within that cartoon show, there was dialog within that I listened to and memorized. (Unfortunately, I promptly forgot what said dialog was upon awakening.)

I was immensely reassured, and told my companion in the dream: "That's exactly the type of dialog that I use in Phyrra and Cyrus!" So basically. At least inside my dream. The dialog of Phyrra and Cyrus comes across as being natural, as being standard for a kids cartoon show, being just as good if not better than the material of other shows circulating in the contemporary market.

Of course, this is a dream we are talking about.

Butstill.

In spite of that.

Upon waking up.

The reassurance remains. Because I do tend to trust my dreams a lot. Phyrra and Cyrus was born from a dream, and this dream was indirectly telling me I feel, "You are on the right track. Don't second-guess your choices in terms of the dialog and what you want the characters to be. You are making something which is of quality."

​And I want to believe in that.

...But today it'll be specifically Phyrra and Cyrus I talk about.

Extensively!

I'll start with Paladins. I expanded their spells a bit. I decided that Shield of Light was the advanced version of a lesser spell: Sunscreen. Sunscreen basically provides hardened skin, making it tougher, while also boosting resistance to the elements.

I then went on to detail Paean spells. This is what I came up with.

Sunbathe: The weaker healing spell, this spell is a touch-based spell which bathes the touched areas in radiant, vibrant life energy that accelerates healing, more or less.

Detect Life: Note that while this is a standard spell every Paean learns, Solarii can learn it...with great difficulty. For a Solarus to learn Detect Life, they first must have full mastery over their powers, and only then they can learn it...by being tutored by someone that's already a master of the technique, and even then there is a level of innate natural talent required beyond training the skill--thus, it's rare for any non-Archpaladin Solarus to possess the spell.

Detect Life is basically a limited version of spirit vision. The caster's eye sockets glow a radiant golden yellow (as in, the entirety of the eye, not just the iris), and when in this state, they can see the 'inner sun' of all those around them.

Sunfire: This is the basic attack technique of a Paean, specifically a ranged technique which while it does have some noncombat purposes is meant as a combat spell specifically. Think of it as being a fire arrow, because that's basically exactly what it is.

Soul Link: Note that Solarii CAN learn Soul Link...with GREAT difficulty, even greater than Detect Life. Soul Link is a technique which is meant specifically for Paeans, designed to work in tandem with both Detect Life and Sunfire. Because Solarii can't learn Sunfire (unless they're on the path to becoming an Archpaladin), this obviously presents a challenge for using the technique.

It's not, however, impossible for a non-Archmage Solarus to learn it. They just have to first modify the base properties of the spell and make it work with their magic. Because, again. Paladins are classified as spellbladers; they aren't full mages. They have a very specific type of magic...and only that magic type is unlocked. And furthermore, Solarii and Paeans have different (albeit similar, overlapping) magic types.

As for what it does--basically, Soul Link acts as a tether to the target(s), making it much easier to cast a spell targeting the target(s), and also allowing for incredibly-short-ranged telepathy of sorts, wherein the caster can talk to the linked individual and have their words heard regardless of situation. It is usually cast after sunfire, with sunfire acting as the anchor point and detect life having been used to pinpoint the most effective spot.

Solar Supercharge: This is a spell designed specifically to work in tandem with a Paladin; it is exclusively a Paean spell. What it does is it absorbs the Solarii's Sun Scorch, and then uses the energy from that to supercharge the Paean's next spell, to EITHER: be a single, superpowerful version of that spell, OR: multiple consecutive castings of a spell normally not capable of that feat.

It is making use of this spell that is the reason why often, one Solarus and Paean will accompany one another, partnering together. Not that even if someone were an Archpaladin they'd still need the aid of another to help them.

Solar Wind: The stronger healing technique AND the primary buffing spell. Didn't quite work out how it works or what specifically it does, but this is the bread and butter of a Paean, along with the upgrade to Sunfire.
Note that Solarii can, through modifying a combination of Sun Scorch and Shield of Light, create a buff spell which is similar albeit weaker than Solar Wind. They still can't heal though; that is a property of a Paean's techniques.

Solar Flare: This is the upgraded Sunfire technique. Didn't quite detail it, but you probably have a fair idea for what I'm going for there.

You might note there are references to an Archpaladin. What's an Archpaladin? Well, simply put.
An Archpaladin is a Paladin who is both a Solarus and a Paean. Keep in mind being just one is in of itself a life pursuit; being both not only takes your whole life but also incredible talent. The youngest recorded Archpaladin was 42 years old and was a prodigy of prodigies; most Archpaladins are in their 60s-80s when they achieve this status.

To become one, after all. You basically need to learn the magics for both a Solarus and a Paean, when the magics for one of them take a good 20 years to learn. Archpaladins are basically the strongest of the strong in terms of spellbladers, in that they are people almost full-on mages. (Mages being a lifetime pursuit in of themselves.) They are still spellbladers, because they use a specialized form of magic rather than more generic magic.

This is still akin to using both arms rather than using the entirety of the body. But if you can think of a fully-awakened Solarus as one arm and a fully-awakened Paean as the other arm, a fully-awakened Archpaladin is both arms. Both arms is less than the whole body, but is still more than the single-hand which represents the capabilities of most spellbladers.

I did some work on their armor, but before I go into the details there I'd prefer to do a little more research.

I also have Clara's appearance down to the point where once I know her eye color (I thought green, but now I'm not sure), I can draw her. I figured out her hair would be almost brown, but be just red enough where you can tell it's red, not orange, not brown. Not quite sure if that has a name, but I know what it looks like. It's kept in a ponytail, which isn't long by girl standards, with the tail end of the ponytail dropping slightly below the shoulders.

Since I already know what her armor looks like, that means I am basically ready to draw her at any time.

There's three other things not Paladin related but honestly, I'm probably either spending time with my girlfriend or going to bed so I'll talk about them later. (I don't think I'll lose the knowledge in spite of the lackluster notes.)

​So I guess that's it for the night.

Wasn't nothing, tho!

So this should give you a better idea of some of the generals behind what I am going for when it comes to Cyrus, versus Phyrra in Cyrus. To have the final image to complete the set, remember this:

So between these, you don't quite get what I'm getting for, but you get more in the general vicinity of what I'm after.

Cyrus has spiked anime hair--none of these images quite capture the anime spiked hair as I envisioned it, but the second followed by the fourth probably come the closest. This spiked anime hair is red, but not just any shade of red. The color I am going for is fairly vibrant, but not pure red, slightly diluted. Brighter red than lifeguard-red, but only just. So it's much, much brighter than crimson, but it's not as bright as possible.

His eyes are, as mentioned, a fiery combination of golden yellow and orange--none of the programs capture this look particularly well. His expression is meant to be mostly neutral, almost but not quite negative, stoic and deadpan, more or less. Serious eyes, focused. For the mouth, the first and third are best; for the eyes, fourth, second, and third (in about that order) are good.

Phyrra's expression is a big cheeky teeth-showing grin. None quite capture that as I envisioned it to be. Her eyes are big, idealistic, heroic, and yet slightly determined eyes. The fourth captures it the best but all are decent.

I decided on an official garb for Cyrus--a deep blue hoodie (think color of the fourth), covered by a cloak shown perfectly in the third. Underneath the hoodie would be a tan tank top. (You can see the blue trim of the collar for this on the fourth.) With an orange smaller tank top underneath of that.

As previously mentioned, he'd have the jeans and boots and a belt and the like more or less unchanged from before.

Phyrra's outfit is a little more complicated. The deepest layer is those chest wrappings. Covering that is a white undershirt. (You can see part of this in the fourth image.) Above that, the red T-shirt. Covering the red T-shirt, she has the brown vest thing shown in the third image above.

She also has leather elbow guards, fingerless gloves, and the shorts/boots seen above. That's about as much detail as I have thought out. Haven't made the program versions for Phyrra and Cyrus-in-Phyrra's-body yet, but with this I'd be able to more or less using additional google references throw together Cyrus and Phyrra-in-Cyrus's-body using my actual art rather than a series of programs.

I'm still not sure I'd be able to make my vision come to life because my art skills fail to live up to those of my vision, but I'd at least have the grounding where it'd more or less be possible.

I have the time to do more than just throw together quick art though, so I suppose what I'll also do is talk some more about little things in the setting. An early concept I threw around was every episode starting with 'The D*escription*'. For instance, I might have an episode title of, "The Demand", and another possible one was "The Departure". For a specific arc, I might keep this, but there was an appeal to something else.

Specifically, the idea of beginning every episode with 'The'.

And I managed to throw together at least twelve aside from the above.
The first episode, The Thaumason Siblings, for obvious reasons.
The second episode, The Wind Guardian, as it'd introduce us some more to Gora.

Ace's introductory episode, The Ranger. I did play around with other ideas. Woodsman. Sharpshooter. The like. But this, in the sense of how-Aragorn/Strider-was-a-Ranger, seemed like the best descriptor for him. Someone who is skilled in the use of ranged weaponry, that is a wilderness survival expert, not limited to just the woods though in that in any environment he is equipped to survive.

Cedrick's introductory episode, The Rival.
Another episode featuring Cedrick, The PF Plan. (I'd tell you what PF stands for, but literally 80% of the humor in the episode comes from what it is so I'd prefer to keep that knowledge secret since the moment is absolutely hilarious if you don't know about it in advance.)

Kaze's introductory episode, The Earth Guardian.
Myra's, The Fire Guardian.

Bard's, The Street Performer. I considered 'Street Urchin', and also considered 'Spirit Demon', but this seemed like the one which best encapsulated his personality/role without being too spoilerific of his plot-relevance.

Clara's, The Paladin. Could also be The Solarus, but Paladin works better overall.
Hera's, The Water Guardian.
Will's, The Adept.
Lily's, The Tailor.

Alena's, The Botanist. Could also be 'The Alchemist', but I think of her as a botanist first and an alchemist second even though her skill as an alchemist is what gives her value in the Thaukama whereas botany isn't exactly the most plot-relevant skill to possess.

These episodes would be much harder to tell as being special episodes if every episode was titled similarly. For instance, if an episode focuses around a villain, "The Damned" could be the name of the episode and that could in fact be the way to introduce a character and yet wouldn't be. That might not be the best of wording, but basically the idea is that title episodes don't give anything away, so much as they just give a general indication of important things the episode more or less introduces.

I might have other stuff to talk about buried in my notes, but the only other thing I can recall off the top of my head which is quick to talk about is a little extra on the villains.

Sloan, the first big bad, has a soft spot for animals, and this fondness is especially the case for dogs. He even ends up adopting a dog he names 'Angel' when said puppy doesn't treat him with hostility, and he does nothing to try and corrupt the dog, raising him more or less the same way any other person would train their dog.

Gunther, the second big bad, literally at the sight of a baby will go 'agoogoo' at them. Now, this does come with a caveat. He makes it clear that he can and will hurt/kill/threaten a baby if it suits his agenda to do so (e.g. leverage, shutting down a prophecy), but when it does not, he is all too happy to be giddy around babies, and gives his blessings to any family with newborns that are loyal to him.

I suppose that'll be it for today. Hope you're enjoying seeing me build Phyrra and Cyrus as much as I am enjoying building them.

Wouldn't surprise me.

Last night I believe I got like 5 hours of sleep and yet all of today I've felt like I've been operating on less than half that, utterly exhausted to dangerous degrees. I suspect something interrupted my sleep which I have no recollection of. And/or that I didn't sleep well. Basically that in spite of me having had that amount of sleep in theory, in practice it was only a small amount of that.

Additionally, while my body only needs like six hours of sleep a day, it's still pushing it for me to be getting that amount six days a week and to work the long hours I do every single day. I did the math, I legit am working enough hours between my two jobs to have it considered a full-time job. It kinda sucks!

Basically, I need all the help I can get.

I DO get the six hours I need more often than not.
But some days I get a little less and it adds up fairly rapidly.

Of course.
Hopefully I'm not sick at all.
​But because of the possibility. And because frankly even if I weren't sick I should be going to bed anyway. I'll be going to bed now.

...Since my creative whims are being interrupted by having listened to music in order to drown my dad out. However, that having been said, I still have three very valid things to ramble on. Let's start with the most recent. A couple of days ago, on Thursday, I had a series of dreams, one after another, which were all amazing and awesome dreams filled with adventure. Mostly after I'd waken up, as part of my powernapping.

There was one which stood out above the rest.

It didn't take me very long to dub the story idea...
Phyrra and Cyrus.

Phyrra and Cyrus Thaumason (yes, that is Thompson, and yes it is just about as common a surname for the setting--it's not exactly 'Smith', and while it's not a top-ten surname, it IS a top-15 surname; incredibly common and unremarkable) are prodigal twin siblings. They are considered to be incredibly talented for their age--at 11 years old, both are already accomplished adventurers.

Phyrra is a bit of a Genki girl--she is energetic, enthusiastic, radiates an aura of brightness and happiness, is sweet, naive, and innocent. Additionally, she is incredibly polite, and fairly formal. However, she is also reckless, hotheaded, and a blood knight who loves the thrill of combat. Her specialty is bladed weapons, especially swords. She has blue hair, which is let down. She is also bisexual. (Well, at her age, more like biromantic, butstill.)

Cyrus is everything Phyrra isn't. He is calm, cool, and collected: a thinker, cautious by nature, who prefers to avoid combat when at all possible. He'll use any method to avoid conflict, be it running away or preferably negotiation. However, if a fight is inevitable, his fighting method is to be decisive--whereas Phyrra likes to have fun fighting and thus doesn't think much about winning, Cyrus when he plans a fight plans how to end it as swiftly and effortlessly as possible. He is blunt, unapologetic, rude, cynical, and a bit of a jerk, but he really knows how to use anything.

This is why his preferred weaponry is environmental weaponry. For instance, if surrounded by rocks, using a sling would be a good option; when in a forest, wooden weapons such as a spear would be ideal. When he has to default to a weapon, his choice is the universal staff, a tool versatile, yet pragmatic, and easily carried. He has protagonist-styled spiked red hair. He is demisexual. (Well, at his age, more like demiromantic, butstill.)

The duo sought after the usual things. Fame, fortune, but mostly...respect. A secondary caveat to this was them wanting to be treated as any other person would be, not discriminated against as being children. A tertiary aspect of this was them being self-aware enough that they aren't yet adults, and being frustrated that, yes, their minds still do operate as those of children, albeit incredibly gifted, mature, prodigal children. Though they have the experience and talent of adults, they know all too well their thoughts and critically emotions are those of kids, still.

In the adventure which kicks off the story, the Thaumason Siblings set out after a legendary book, the Book of Endlessness, said to be able to grant the reader(s) limitless abilities, among them age manipulation. Their idea: find the book, and use it to wish to be adults, such that they could so to speak "skip ahead". They were, of course, aware of the risks in doing so, but deemed it worth it because what would be lost from that wouldn't be something they'd miss, as far as they were concerned.

They didn't even think the book was real or if it was what it'd be able to do, but they found a fairly reliable rumor of where it would be if it were, and decided they'd try. 

By the way, this was envisioned as an anime. Western Animation would work, but it'd have to be one of those two. It doesn't really work as any other media. Not live action, not even manga that well (though it'd maybe be possible? I just think the magic would be lost without it as an animation).

So keep that in mind.

The first episode opens up with them entering the dungeon and more or less showing off their base abilities and natural personalities as they progress, filled with the special siblings banter only siblings can manage. (Seriously, I don't know how to explain sibling banter to someone who has none. It's just...something people with siblings kinda get and know and understand. They see sibling banter in fiction and they can often tell if the writer has siblings, sort of thing, in that if you know it you know what's real and what's forced.)

Eventually, they find the book, and begin to read it.

So the full effect of the book is that it unlocks the full magical potential of the reader, who takes on possession of the book as being its "owner". Magic exists in this setting, and it's the type that anyone can learn...but learning it takes years of study, such that the youngest magic users are in their 30s if they started when they were children. It is a dedicated, life-long study, akin to getting a doctorate in a field. You spend basically half your life to learn the beginnings of it, and you still even after learning it are no master.

Understandably, this makes magic users uncommon. And this isn't something where you can be a prodigy and learn it at a disproportional rate. There are magical prodigies who can use it in their 20s, but that's the prodigal level. It is the level of a genius, who not only is a genius, but also has essentially a "sixth sense" for muscle memory to learn the magic, or even eidic muscle memory for the process.

...By which. I mean. Magic is something that the entire body uses. It is something which is physically exerting, because it is using "muscles" of sorts which you have to be trained in how to use. I can say it is effectively equivalent to having a person who has used nothing but their hands their entire life, trying to learn how to use legs they've never used. They might see people walk and get the theory, they might know how it is done, but if they try to stand up, they're going to fall.

This is why even prodigies take into their 20s to get it, and most magic users are in their 30s, and magic is a bit of a rarity. Because it is not something you learn to use overnight...and even if you did. That's just for using the magic at all. You still need to, once you have learned HOW to use magic...learn individual spells. Magic isn't a do-anything power. Now, granted. Spells are near-infinite in number and have many different variants. But knowing how to use magic doesn't mean you can use magic because you also need to learn how to use specific spells.

Learning spells? That you can be a prodigy at, by studying hard and grasping them quickly and rapidly. But to learn a spell, first you must learn magic. It's impossible for people to learn a spell without first learning how to use magic, because without knowing how to use magic, the spell is just words on a page with pictures; they have no frame of reference for what it feels like, basically.

Now, granted. There are workarounds. Some people are magic-users-lite, who have unlocked partial magic casting, which they use for a very limited select set of spells applicable for the bits of magic they are using. This still takes years of training, doable in your teenaged years if a prodigy or in your 20s if you're more average. You can think of this as instead of using two arms, of using one hand (fraction of one arm which is half of two). 

However, even including those, magic's still not too terribly common. It's a thing, which exists, but which people still don't make wide usage of. The rules governing it are seen as an extension of physics--in a world which has always had magic, after all, the rules governing the universe are such that from a scientific point of view people don't differentiate between magic and not-magic. So it is considered a science, well-documented, well-recorded. People understand what it can, and can't, do.

So back to the book. The book? Basically, it instantly allows the owner to become a mage, regardless of how little they had trained their magic before. It does not grant them the knowledge on how to use said magic...but within the pages of the book are the recordings of basically every possible spell that the unlocked magic can use. (And this being limitless potential...that's basically every spell.) With the caveat...it will only show pages the owner is actually in the now capable of casting. 

...Sounds awesome, right?

...Well, the problem is...the book has a self-defense mechanism, and it's not just an easily-bypassed dungeon. In fact, it has more than one, but all of them work on the same principle. The book of endlessness has a defense mechanism which works as a double-reversal, on the principle of "being finite". Normally, when reading the book, the owner will start to find themselves aging rapidly, their time disappearing from being endless to being finite.

If that fails, the walls enclosing the space rapidly progress inward--the endless space becoming finite.

...However. The book's reversal mechanism doesn't quite take into account if two people simultaneously read it to both become the owner. Or rather...it does...and it does the only thing it can: use the reversal in...a very, very different method.

...And it is by this method that the entire rest of the story is set up, because that reversal? A reversal of spirit between the owners. Or in other words. A body swap. Phyrra gets stuck in Cyrus's body; Cyrus gets stuck in Phyrra's body. And it gets worse; they are, for the entire duration of this, now stuck permanently at eleven, never aging. (The opposite, reverse, of what they wanted.)

Yes the series would have plenty of shenanigans where Phyrra (in Cyrus's body) would need to try to pretend to be Cyrus, and vice-versa. And at times, awkwardly enough, the reverse (the two are actually in their correct bodies...but with people who only know Phyrra in Cyrus's body as Phyrra and vice-versa, them needing to try and pretend ANYWAY). You know the like. (So gender stuff would be featured a fair amount.)

...Oh, and the walls start to close in on them anyway.

Fortunately, the book is intricately linked to four other books: the book of wind, the book of earth, the book of fire, and the book of water.

Phyrra, in Cyrus's body, rushes over to the book of wind, activating it. Each book has a defense mechanism of summoning a Guardian. The Guardian's duty is to kill the owner of the book, or failing that, to serve them until such a time as the owner no longer owns the book.

Gora, a rock monster (his design is from a combination of sources, among them being that one rock monster that Kurama faced early on in YuYuHakusho), the Wind Guardian, comes forward...and gets introduced to Phyrra. Guardians, as creatures belonging to the spirit realm, can see beings in their true spiritual form, so has a unique form of double-vision where he can see the body of Cyrus but he can also see that it is actually Phyrra. Phyrra wins him over with her sheepish grin and polite manners.

...It also helps that he is not immune to being crushed in spite of being made of rock, so he starts to panic when he noticed and swiftly teaches Phyrra the 'wings of levitation' spell, which "shuts off traps", and the enclosing walls qualify, thus saving their lives.

Gora notes that they're just children, and can't find himself to do anything other than help them.

...And thus, the story begins, concluding the first episode.

This trio lasts for quite a large amount of time before other members of the Thaukama (Thaumpson + Nakama, it's the best I could come up with for their group name) join. In APPROXIMATE order:

Kaze, the Earth Guardian, is summoned when Gora is badly injured in a way the kids need the aid of the earth book in order to fix, a task that Cyrus (in Phyrra's body) undertakes. Kaze is a homicidal maniac. (His design is directly lifted from Kazekirimaru in Bleach's Zanpaktou Rebellion filler arc.) He is a killing machine who excels at slicing opponents to shreds, and unlike Gora, he is not so easily dissuaded from murdering his book's owner because of him being a child.

Phyrra does combat with him using her wind magic augmenting her blades, a fight which she does respectably well in and Kaze acknowledges her talent, yet notes that no matter her potential and no matter how prodigal she may be she is still inexperienced in the ways of the wind which he has had eons to master, so she is at a disadvantage.

After healing Gora and watching the fight for long enough, Cyrus challenges Kaze, noting that he is to be Kaze's owner, not Phyrra, and that if he is to be worthy of that, then he should be the one who earns Kaze's respect. In spite of using the element which has a disadvantage (the reason Guardians are the opposite element to the book they are guarding is twofold--to kill any would-be expert of the element, and to provide coverage to the expert of the element should they decide to subjugate themselves), Cyrus does in fact manage to prove himself.

Ace, age 16, the first non-Guardian member of the Thaukama, is an expert marksman. Give him any ranged weapon, and he can hit almost any target. He specializes in pistols, but using muskets is still viable. He is a highly competent archer even though he doesn't like to use bows, and he can make do with a crossbow even though he thinks them cumbersome. He can hit with a sling, and can throw darts and the like fairly well.

However, perhaps his most valuable asset is not his combat skills, but rather, the fact that unlike Phyrra and Cyrus, he is trained to survive out in the wild for long durations of time. He knows advanced first aid techniques, such that he is an expert medic, and is a survival expert, knowing what's edible, what's not, what's poisonous, what's not, how to prepare foods which would normally be toxic such that they are edible, where to find things, how to prepare against environmental hazards, and the like.

I haven't given him a last name yet, though he does have a loose appearance. Brown hair, fairly shaggy, wears a cowboy hat, has a trenchcoat, combat pants, and for shoes maybe combat boots. I want an aesthetic which is, overall, something that would say 'pragmatic in most environments'. (I mean obviously he'd need a different getup in a colder environment, but I want something which works reasonably well in the forest, jungle, desert, sea, and the like, while still offering high combat readiness.)

There would be other human members of the Thaukama join before this, but I haven't fleshed them out in much detail.

Myra, Fire Guardian, a Siren (with a Mermaid form and Sea Serpent form), is summoned by Cyrus (in Phyrra's body) when the siblings are entering into an area they anticipate fire magic being useful for. She is equally as lethal as Kaze, loving to eat or drown to death anyone. (None of the Guardians are pleasant individuals; the siblings having 'tamed' them is noted as being an incredibly unusual occurrence because the Guardians are explicitly MONSTERS.)

However, because she is a Siren, immensely beautiful and alluring, Cyrus is basically smitten, addressing her as...
...Mom.

Myra is taken aback, and briefly insulted by the term of endearment, because it'd imply she is seen as an older individual whereas she loves the thought of being seen for her beauty and charm.

Phyrra explains to her, also addressing her formally as Lady Myra, that while she might be looking upon children, her charms are not lost on the children. Cyrus's reaction is as it is because he sees her as absolutely gorgeous, and everything he imagined his mother would look like. Phyrra puts on her own charm so to speak and says that Myra is basically everything she'd hope to be when older, and explains that if they ended up aging in spite of Cyrus being in that body, that Cyrus wouldn't complain too terribly much about turning out that way, either, more or less.

This flattery and sweetness and all-around awe at her flusters Myra quite a bit, and while she is quite adamant she is not their mother, inevitably, she does end up being the Team Mom anyway.

At some later point, the Thaukama get stranded on an island--to get off, they need to make use of the wind and water books in tandem, so Phyrra ends up summoning...
Hera, the Water Guardian, a Phoenix/Dragon who has many of the typical traits of the latter. She loves to hoard money, she loves to eat people, she loves burning things to ashes, and demanding tribute in the form of pretty maidens (that she explicitly-as-can-be-while-still-having-it-as-implied has sex with, so yes she is a lesbian but yes she is also a rapist), but in spite of all these unpleasantries (I repeat. The Guardians are not nice people. They are MONSTERS. They enjoy killing things among other atrocities), she does have a rule--
She will give her blessing to anything which survives the fire. "Reborn through fire" is in fact still part of her design, coming from the phoenix half, and through the ashes of her flame, she will give prosperity to the individuals whom she deems worthy of continued life.

Phyrra willingly undergoes this trial, passing, and earning the fourth and final guardian as a companion.

There would be at least one more human member of the Thaukama to join after this point, a girl about the same age as the Thaumason siblings, but I haven't named her or put much design into her character. (Her presence is more plot-related.)

This took me more or less...like.
Ten minutes to think up.
Literally all that happened in the course of a powernap.

I'm not sure how many episodes there'd be. Quite a number, though. At least 24/26 (depending on whether a season would be 12 or 13), possibly double that (if you count 12/13 as the half-season and 24/26 as a complete season). I don't think it'd run longer than that, though. (In fact, 48 already seems like it might be pushing things.)

The setting is such that I could write an endless amount of material for it, and the series epilogue (I know exactly how things go from the confrontation with the final Big Bad onwards) leaves things rather open-ended both after, during, and before said epilogue in that there is the possibility of writing FAR more material than documented.

But I know what kind of material I have, what kind of material I want, what kind of story I want to tell, and about how long that story would be, and that's not as long as you'd think it'd be. I wish I could make it, but this is miles beyond my league. I don't have the ability to start to finish map out the story, yet alone, line for line the dialog happening such that every single moment is mapped out.

Even if I did have that scriptwriting skill, I don't have the art skills necessary to draw the scenes I know I'd need to.
Even if I did, I don't have the animation skills necessary to make said scenes come to life.
Even if I did, I don't have the audio editing skills (there's names for that but I'm too lazy to bother looking them up) to basically work with the sound.
Even if I did, I would need voice actors for these roles, able to consistently deliver the wide array of things I'd need them to (there is one point which requires an incredibly professional level of performance in order to nail the moment I have in mind and it WOULD be screwed up with sub-par voice acting)...and this is something I can't exactly do myself.

So I would need those voice actors, something I can't get around no matter my ability to get around those other limitations.
And they would need to be high-quality.
And they would need to be able to deliver on a schedule more or less.
...I mean.

...Those services exist.

...But they sure don't exist for free.

You quite literally get what you paid for.
So if you pay nothing, then you find almost no voice actors. The few who bite are likely low-quality, and are going to be working under their own time constraints rather than yours because they are effectively volunteering.

So EVEN IF ALL OTHER FACTORS WERE ACCOUNTED FOR.
I couldn't do this on my own.
...And all other factors aren't accounted for.
I do need the audio editing skills; this is not something I have the software for, nor the training, and I have little in the ability to learn these things and if I did I wouldn't learn them well enough to make use of them to the level they'd need to be at. The only way I get what I want is with someone who's an expert, which means again hiring someone. More money aside from the voice actors.

I do need the animation skills; this is not something I can do. Yadda yadda, more rambling, end result: hiring someone. More money. Oh and as an aside...said person would need the ability to not only closely work with me, but also the audio guy. (Who would need to work well with both the animation guy and the voice actors since the audio guy would know what was needed there.)

Just animating isn't good enough; to animate something, first I need to show what needs to be animated. This is done through a combination of scripts and art. I need help on both because I cannot master both.

I can write the overall narrative.
I can flesh out moments.
But I can't on my own make the script. I'd need writers to help me. I'd outline some things, they'd outline others, collaborating until I got a narrative and product that I was satisfied with. All the while working with artists who'd draw these images to give character reference art and scene reference art.

More money.
More collaboration, even.

...You can see where this is headed.

It's not possible for me to make, because for me to make it I'd require a fully staffed animation studio. Proper hardware, proper software, proper staffing, properly paid.

It's literally one of the best ideas I've ever had, up there with the villain song setting (which I envisioned more as a film or maybe miniseries) in how good it'd be...and yet.

It'll never come to be.

​Ah well.

I'm gonna take a break; when I return, I might ramble about the other things I need to, the perfect RPG stuff and the webcomic idea (which I actually could make because I have the skills necessary, I just never will because 98% of my ideas are never going to see the light of reality thanks to how much time/effort the 2% which do take).

I promised yesterday that I'd try to generate one, and today, magically, I did! It was coincidental, mind you--even accidental. But I did generate it.

Of course, the bad news is I can't give it to you tonight. It'll take me about an hour to type up, and I'm past my bed time given I have work tomorrow. (I spent time with my girlfriend. I am sorry but girlfriend time > literally anything else to me right now.)

Yes I realize this puts me in danger of not giving the blog entry.
Still have yet to give the rambles on the webcomic I made and the perfect RPG ramble.

But I do need to prioritize life and I do promise I haven't forgotten about them and that I will deliver as many as I can as rapidly as I can.

Just not tonight, because doing so while technically possible would be tremendously stupid and irresponsible of me given my work schedule and the amount of sleep I should get.

You'd THINK that'd be because of the bracelet, but no. It's actually probably because we're coming up on her birthday. March 17th, 2015 was the first mention of what would become Ruby. It was a Tuesday.

March 19th expanded her. And then other entries throughout March further built her into an entity.

I decided last year (or was it 2016?) what her official anniversary was, but I can't recall what and I can't track it down. Still. Her birthday is around this time. I don't know when, exactly, I'm meant to celebrate it...but it is soon.

Today, the subject came up in my mind of characters' parents and to a lesser extent, family.
Ruby's parents are featured albeit as minor characters. She does have siblings, too.

Sally's an orphan since her parents were killed in a vampire attack on the homeless shelter; her older sister died the day Sally's powers awakened.

Gary's parents are millionaires, with the caveat that's lower-millions, sub-$10,000,000, but still technically millionaires, plural. He is an only child.

Hannah, like Sally, is an orphan.

Amy is Ruby's daughter, so her lineage is obvious enough.

Dale, as a vampire who is literally like a thousand years old technically had parents but suffice to say it's not something story-relevant given they are centuries deceased.

...But that's still four members of the Ruby Gang's ten fighters that I didn't have the family of locked down.

Harold/Herald (who's he? I realize it's easy to forget about him given that as the Team Normal his badassery is something not often advertised but he is a member proper of the team who is not a joke and is an actual, serious, real combatant that actually makes up the main muscle of the team) is old enough to be the father of a teenaged child. He's not; he's single, but he has a sibling that has a daughter, and said niece is teenaged in years, so he's around that age.

As a result, it can be safely stated his family's not really that important. His niece is in training to take up the family business. His sibling isn't retired per se but is on an extended vacation for the duration of the time raising their child(ren) to adulthood. His parents are of the age where they easily could be retirees...but since Hunters tend to be spry for their age, most likely, his parents are off being Hunters in British Columbia--somewhere kinda sorta close by, but not really story relevant.

Whitney is slightly older than the other riders, and I just remembered that her family is accounted for since her family owns a bar.

...Still, however.
That left D.D. and Vili unaccounted for when it came to family.

Today I managed to work out a character, who I decided fitted perfectly as being her father.

His name: Thomas, AKA, "Tank". He's a street fighter, and basically immune to anything not explicitly magical/supernatural in that no human has ever managed to actually beat him in a fight; he remains undefeated.

This is because his moniker of Tank is appropriate--people think of Tanks as basically a "moving fortress": something incredibly well-armored such that it is nigh-impregnable, often with heavy weaponry, but which is slow to move and lacks maneuverability.

...He is not that kind of Tank. He is a modern Tank. Which still has the armor to be nigh-impregnable and the heavy firepower to unleash punishment...but also is fast and maneuverable. The TVTropes term for this would be "Lightning Bruiser", and given Vili's element, it seemed an appropriate enough description for her father.

He's also a genius, at least in term of street smarts/combat sense, in that he knows exactly what to do. He is well-trained and uses good technique and recognizes sloppy technique; he is the one who trained Vili how to fight in the first place and still acts as her trainer to this day because he can critique all her numerous imperfections. (Namely, "stop letting your powers do the fighting! I am a skilled fighter even without my build!")

It'd be a little bit of a challenge to draw him though. He's meant to have an impressive girth: to have an outer layer which is filled with fat. This fat weighs him down a lot and acts as a shock absorber allowing him to absorb impacts from blows, but underneath the fat, there is enough muscle such that he isn't encumbered by the fat. He, essentially, quite literally: knows how to throw his weight around. His muscle + fat creates a lot of mass behind his strikes, and he is nimble enough to deliver one after another after another after another.

It's also not possible to throw him off-balance, to tip him over, or anything like that; he is just...built in a way where he is able to hold himself. And yes. He can even jump. And when he lands from the jump, that too carries a disproportionately large impact.

...You would think that someone like this would be impossible, but I'm actually modeling the idea for him off of an actual guy I know from tae kwon do who is often described as essentially "fighting a freight train". If he had the mental faculties (his main weakness is that he hesitates and that he thinks too much more or less, overthinking things which slows him down) to match his physical capabilities, he would dominate literally every fight because no matter what strike or kick I throw at him he isn't phased and he hits with incredible force and I've seen him combo strikes with speed when not dealing with the thought behind it.

...Now admittedly. I am also taking some cues from some fictional fighters, e.g. The Blob (X Men), Po (Kung Fu Panda). But the idea is not as ludicrous as it sounds. You can both be incredibly strong and yet incredibly full of blubber, capable of tanking any blow because you absorb it, and yet dishing it out with both speed and strength of unbelievable amounts in spite of (or rather BECAUSE OF) the fat which people'd expect to be a hindrance.

So I swear. The guy I am envisioning is in fact not something which is too outside the realm of reality; he is someone who very easily could exist and I imagine somewhere in our world actually does. I'm that confident it's possible. To have a build which is basically immune to typical redirection strategies, immune to being knocked off-balance, immune to punches/kicks, and yet is fast and strong. With the mindset of a fighter, such a person would be a force to reckon with.

And this is the guy I picture as being Vili's father. I imagine him as being much the same as her: a combat-loving guy, mostly laid back, but strict when it comes to combat to the point of being almost militaristic, and being incredibly disappointed when his daughter slacks off.

Anyway, I still owe you the rambles I promised over half a week ago, but given that I am past my bedtime already (this ramble took me ten times longer to type than I thought), I should be going to bed.

You know...the zones where everything is just...so difficult.
It is difficult to get out of bed because I want to sleep.

It is difficult to eat because I am having trouble stomaching any sufficiently large quality of food such that it could be labeled a "meal". (I have a theory--I've noted that when I have many different items each in a smaller quantity, I seem to be able to eat more than when I have only a limited number of items in a large quantity. Most of my meals are the latter and I believe my trouble is coming from that.) Also I want to sleep.

It is difficult to do hygiene stuff because I simply don't feel like it.

It is difficult to go to work because I feel exhausted.

It is difficult to actually do work because my mind is zoning out.

It is difficult to do the things I do in my spare time.

It is difficult to do...anything. I'm just. In that zone where everything is more effort than it should by all rights be.

I'm pretty sure this is major depression at its worst, because I just.

I just feel like I'm moving at a fraction of my speed.

I had family night, too long a blog to type up, and I was tired, so I didn't remember that I hadn't typed up that tremendously long blog up.

I have work today which I'm going to start prep for soonish, and when I get home I don't imagine I'll have the time to do the blog, but a preview of what I guess will be tomorrow's blog:

​In addition to whatever I do tomorrow, I have two separate bits on the perfect RPG (one worldbuilding of sorts or rather character building, the other more mechanics building), plus a spew about a new webcomic idea I had. Said webcomic idea involves mythology to say the least (I should save the full details for the full blog), and that's part of why I ended up not blogging yesterday, actually.

Because of the new webcomic idea, my mind wandered off to classical mythology. Because of my mind being in classical mythology, it wandered off to Zeus/Poseidon. Zeus/Poseidon, for reference, is to Greek Mythology what Majesty is for High Fantasy--that being, a lovingly affectionate parody of it, wherein the cliches and stereotypes are played up for laughs, which has NUMEROUS numbers of gameplay hours and ENDLESS numbers of hidden dialogs to discover at various different points.

I ended up buying the game on steam and troubleshooting how to play it in windowed mode without it being messed up. Basically, the game has an in-game option for windowed mode...but its windowed mode makes the user interface half-invisible...essentially rendering the game unplayable.

Playing in fullscreen is something I'd never want to do for numerous reasons, among them being that it messes up my screens, basically making every window I have go from whatever they were into a specific windowed mode up in the upper left corner with a specific size. Though admittedly the main reason is I like to stream for my girlfriend something only possible in windowed mode.

Also, the in-game windowed mode options render text much more difficult to read because the resolutions they offer by default are warped from the game's natural proportions, so text is squashed. I did find a workaround, albeit one which requires a third party program, causes the game to not be recognized by my streaming program (something there's a workaround for), and which has weird scrolling dimensions that I haven't been able to fix.

Basically, I get the impression you're not supposed to automatically scroll to the far side of the map when interacting with the user interface, but this is currently unavoidable. Similarly, the scrolling for the bottom is also off such that the lower 25% of the screen auto-scrolls. Incidentally, there's less scrolling to the left and top--the level of scrolling there actually looks like what it's SUPPOSED to be.

But ANYWAY.

The point is, I have that game now, and got it working.

I had a cat interrupt me mid-blog so if I had anything else to say then her sitting on my lap broke that chain of thought, so I suppose that's it for now and probably for today; I have a staff meeting to prepare for.

...Mostly because I am an idiot when it comes to order of operations. Don't start doing the task which will eat up all your pre-bed time before the task which won't take up all your pre-bed time. But since I am in fact an idiot who started the task eating up my pre-bed time first, I don't have the time to do the blog.

...In my defense.

I thought I had basically all night tonight free when I began, but took a look at my work schedule for tomorrow only to realize my shift didn't start at three, it ended at three. In other words. If my shift had started at three then I could stay up to a ridiculously late time. Like, 8 am, late. And been fine. Ending at three, the reality, means going to bed at a ridiculously early time, like midnight.

So it's not a complete fail in order of operations, just a DIFFERENT type of fail!

Butyeah. I don't have the time to write the blog I wanted to write tonight. I should go to bed.

​I will however blog about it tomorrow. You'll get everything I was going to do tonight, along with anything I inevitably come up with tomorrow.