Anne's Fiction Corner

I may still be pretty much useless on the computer, but with the help of dictation software and a whole lot of painkillers, I'm unconquerable nonetheless. Today's story is Qualities of Heat, starring Sophia Archimedes with appearances by Geoff Matheson, Mitchell Gozer, Marcus James, Sangria Tecuhtli and everybody's favorite mysterious Aztec Scion. It is a tale of expectations versus reality, reason versus passion, and what happens when violent temper collides with unexpected outcome.

Skeins of Fate won the voting this time (although it was pretty close), so they're up next! We're down to just two to vote on now, so let the rivalry begin!

• If you vote for Eastern Promises, you're voting for stories from the nineteenth-century band in a world of colonialism and industry - Leona Middleton, Samuel Vanderbilt and Paniwi Bayteru of the Netjer, Faruza Alinejad and Yadi of the Yazata, Mohini Misra and Padma Billingsworth of the Deva, James Howard and Alvin de Lafayette of the Anunna, and many more. They're currently fighting corruption among local authorities, learning what other cultures have to offer them and finding ways to survive no matter what the cost.
• If you vote for Strawberry Fields, you're voting for stories from the wild-eyed Celtic band - Dierdre O'Riordan, Seamus McMann, Jude Shriver and Auggie MacDonough of the Tuatha de Danann and Alaina Bertrand and Ignatius Rex of the Nemetondevos. They're currently gearing up to challenge the combined might of the military and their shadowy puppeteers, while reaching out to their kinsmen around the world.

And off we go!

Anne's Fiction Corner

It's that time again, and I hope you guys are all ready for this story, because our players definitely weren't. Today's story is The Fall of Tenochtitlan, starring Geoff Matheson with appearances by Sangria Tecuhtli, Mitchell Gozer and Marcus James, not to mention an insanely star-studded supporting cast. It is a tale of divided loyalties, devastating betrayal and events that change the world forever.

I just realized that for some reason I accidentally labeled the progress bar as Sangria Fiction this past round, even though it's technically Geoff fiction. But that's okay; Geoff may be the narrator and it may be his story, but you'd better believe it's Sangria's story, too.

Before I put up a new voting poll, I want to turn to you, the readers and players, for a little advice about how to plan for new fiction as we move on! John and I have been wondering if the current method of voting is really the best one, since it tends to skew toward always the same characters. I love all the characters, so I'm generally happy no matter what, but there are a few different things we were thinking of trying.

• Vote for individual characters, just like we do now. Everybody votes for whomever they're most interested in, and life continues as normal.
• Vote for individual games - that is, Better Next Time, Eastern Promises, Gangs of New York, Strawberry Fields, whatever. Everyone votes for the storyline they want to see more of, and then I'll write the next story in that line, which might be from any of the characters involved.
• Vote for individual characters, but rotate the voting per game. This time we vote only on Eastern Promises characters, next time we vote only on Gangs of New York characters, and so on.

Or something else that you guys think of that I haven't. Or maybe nothing needs to change! I don't know, I'm very unfocused right after I finish something.

Winona won with some kind of crazy old woman wizardry, so she'll be getting the next story. Tell me what you guys think, and we'll put up a new voting poll soon!

Anne's Fiction Corner

What, a new story done in under a month? It's true! Today's story is Children of the Sun, starring Sangria Tecuhtli with appearances by Marcus James, Mitchell Gozer and a seriously distressed Geoff Matheson. It is a tale of vengeance, family ties and uncontrolled power that finally finds an outlet. It's also the worst. Seriously, just the worst.

Geoff won the vote with a slim margin of only one, so he'll get the next story! The new voting poll will go up momentarily, and with the really close voting lately, I'm totally excited to see who will come up next!

• If you vote for Aurora Dahl, you'll be getting a story about the fallout of a divine war and the passing of ancient responsibilities on to reluctant young Scions.
• If you vote for Darcy Jolie-Pitt, you'll be getting a story about two sisters trapped in a foreign underworld, trying to find their way back to the light.
• If you vote for Faruza Alinejad, you'll be getting a story about unlikely friendships and the sacrifices bandmates sometimes make for one another, physical or spiritual.
• If you vote for Leona Middleton, you'll be getting a story about a headstrong girl bucking the demands of her society and setting her sights on a truly impossible dream.
• If you vote for Mitchell Gozer, you'll be getting a story about the long, hard road of repentance and the violent nature of divine divorce courts.
• If you vote for Mohini Misra, you'll be getting a story about her band undermining a corrupt raja and making difficult decisions about whether or not love can overcome evil.
• If you vote for Seamus McMann, you'll be getting a story about the clash between divine and mortal authorities and one band of Scions' determination to rescue one of their own at any cost.
• If you vote for Sophia Archimedes, you'll be getting a story about her stormy non-relationship with a certain notorious Scion.
• If you vote for Will Nordstrom, you'll be getting a story about his childhood and growth into one of the last Vanir Scions in the world.
• If you vote for Winona Nelson, you'll be getting a story about the struggle of poverty, the entropy of the universe and all the ways a normal woman can end up at the very bottom.
• If you vote for Woody Anderson, you'll be getting a story about a very old Norse Scion adapting to the ways of a new culture and finding a way to honor new family members.
• If you vote for Yadi, you'll be getting a story about her origins as a street rat in the back alleys of Tehran and her hopes for a better life as a child of the righteous gods.

Incidentally, I know Vivian was a super popular option on the last poll, so many people may be wondering why she isn't on this one. It's not because we don't love her - we just realized that her story can't happen until Goze's has gone through. So if you're looking for some Vivian love, vote for Goze and she'll be back in the next round!

Anne's Fiction Corner

If you've been itching to know how the Better Next Time team's travails in Duat turned out, itch no longer! This new story is out just in time for Valentine's Day, because Geoff is everybody's valentine.

Today's story is Sunrise, Sunset, starring Geoff Matheson with appearances by Sangria Tecuhtli, Marcus James and Mitchell Gozer. It is a tale of conflicting loyalties, the consequences of murder, and young people trying to fill shoes that are entirely too big for them.

Next up, duly voted in, will be Woody Anderson dealing with the aftermath of accidentally falling into the well of Mimir. New voting options will go up in a minute.

Whee! Stories!

Anne's Fiction Corner

Okay, so, I'm sorry, guys. This was supposed to be a story about Geoff, who was voted in next and has a lot of significant stuff to be doing in Egypt right now. And I really did sit down to write a story about Geoff, but while I was working on it realized that it needed to be happening concurrently with this story, and that this one should really come first for reasons of perspective and continuity.

So today we have The Seven-Snake Voyage of Mitchell Gozer, starring Mitchell Gozer with guest appearances by Geoff Matheson, Marcus James and Sangria Tecuhtli. It is a tale of extremely grudging heroism, incredibly uncomfortable selflessness, and enduring bromance.

And speaking of bromance, the next story will definitely be the Geoff tale that goes along with this one. Cross my heart.

Anne's Fiction Corner

Hey, everybody! Fiction's been slow lately because of working on the Birthright project and various other things, but it's never forgotten. Today's story is Skilled Labor, starring Sophia Archimedes with appearances by Mitchell Gozer, Geoff Matheson, Marcus James and Sangria Tecuhtli. It is a tale of mystery and origins, and a reminder that it doesn't matter if you're a phenomenally powerful demigod offspring of an ancient deity; if you borrow dad's car and crash it, it's still coming out of your allowance.

In case anyone is interested, by the way, there's a third poll up over on the right at the moment, where you can vote on which character you'd most like to see new fiction about. It won't work quite the same as the other polls - the winning character isn't always guaranteed the next spot, since sometimes I have to write another character's story first in order to make the next part of that person's tale make sense, blah blah continuity - but it'll give me a good idea of what you guys are interested in seeing, and I'll stick to it whenever I have the chance.

Players are all voting for themselves as we speak, I'm sure.

Anne's Fiction Corner

Hey, everybody!

By popular demand (by which I mean a few people who emailed me so I'm sure you know who you are), we're going to start announcing when new fiction comes out here on the blog, both so it's more apparent for those not paying a lot of attention to the Updates page and so there's somewhere for commentary and people who want to tell us about typos. Exciting!

To inaugurate this new practice, today we have the new story Fathers and Sons. It is a tale of light in the darkness, familial responsibilities and mysterious regicide, and stars Geoff Matheson with appearances by Sangria Tecuhtli, Sophia Archimedes, Mitchell Gozer, Marcus James and Aurora Dahl.

For those of you interested, happy reading!

Minotaur BirdMan Rides Again

Question: How did Zwazo transition from the moral mortal Marcus James to the insane wrecker of everything? Also, what does he do with the humans in despair who find his realm?

Ah, Marcus James... he tried, the poor soul, but it just wasn't his destiny to be a reasonable and calm and noncrazy person, and Fate knew it long before he did. There was a time when he tried to be the conscience of Geoff's ragtag band of misfits; he refused to drink, tried to prevent unnecessary violence and even had a few Justice boons rattling around in his bag of tricks. But Marcus never really had much in the way of reason and patience in him - that was his twin, Mathias, and when Mathias died at his visitation he started to unravel. African myth has a concept called marasa, sacred twins, a single soul in two bodies; Marcus was the strong, active, passionate twin, while Mathias was the calm, intelligent, thoughtful one. They balanced each other when Mathias was alive, but without his other half, Marcus became unstable.

He managed to hold it together for a while, but the final straw that broke him was in the siege of Paris, when he beheaded a Scion of Teutates in a misguided attempt to save Goze from her, not realizing that she was administering a just punishment for Goze's many crimes. The Psychic Prison extended to him and trapped him in his own mind for the equivalent of several decades, and while Goze came out of the ordeal with a new realization of his sins and determination to make them right, Marcus went the other direction and came out irreparably mentally scarred. For a while he swapped between different multiple personalities, most of them violent and confused, and after Shango interfered to try to whip him back into shape, managed to pull it together to a sort of level of constant low-grade craziness.

Believe it or not, he's actually doing better these days than he was circa Legend 7 and 8. When he hit apotheosis, he was recombined with the spirit of Mathias, so Zwazo Fou Fou is in actuality once again both twins united. Mathias' influence has had a slight calming effect, and Zwazo is now more able to think before acting.

Unfortunately for everyone else, that basically just means that his insanity is capable of planning ways to get around them or manipulate events into benefiting himself, but at least he's not routinely crashing through other Scions' shrines or assaulting nymphs on Olympus anymore.

Edit: Sheesh, way to fail to answer the whole question, me. Marcus actually doesn't do anything with the lost and despairing mortals that enter his Sanctum; they simply travel alone and despondent through it for anywhere from days to years, probably without even ever seeing him (he isn't home much). The idea behind mortals having access to his sanctum is that they must be truly unable to cope with their lives anymore, or truly disconnected enough to become lost from their own world. When they do so, they wander through the desolate emptiness of his Sanctum until they either want to be part of the world again and fall back into it (usually to discover lives that are in total disarray due to their absence or to have to start from scratch) or die. Marcus himself generally ignores them.

Marcus Ruins It For Everyone

Question: Did Zwazo Fou Fou really kill Ouranus? And if so, what damage did killing the avatar do?

He very definitively did. Though it happened offscreen in the fiction around it (it was during the characters' jaunt to Ehekatoyaatl, while Geoff was stuck on a boat with Jay Ortiz), it had a very definite impact on the world, as killing Titan Avatars tends to do. To be fair to Zwazo, he was trying to be merciful; Ouranos was depressed and wanted to be put out of his misery, and Zwazo felt sorry for him.

It was still a terrible mistake. With Ouranos' death, pleasant, clear-skied weather is completely gone from the World. There are no calm summer days or gentle breezes; there's nothing but storms, violent winds and fierce cloud fronts. Ouranos represented the neutral, quiet part of the sky, and with his death, that part no longer exists. To make matters worse, his removal also opened the door for a new Titan Avatar to create himself and seize control, which is bad news for everybody (especially the Amatsukami).

Theoretically, the PCs might be able to restore some kind of reasonable weather to the world if they can get someone to take Ouranos' place as the Avatar of calmness, but since most other Avatars are storm-based and unlikely to change their minds, and most gods are not excited about leaping into a Titanrealm to become voluntarily part of it, it'd be a very difficult undertaking.