My Nanowrimo Novel - Vahnatai stuff!
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Law Bringer
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written Wednesday, October 26 2005 22:30
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[Title changed to reflect new topic purpose] Bok. Yes, the Vahnatai title/rank. quote:"Rarely", but it is not strictly ruled out. I am sure that I have seen a living Vahnatai referred to as "Bok" somewhere in E/A 2. Is the "Bok" more a fast track to becoming a Crystal Soul than an actual description of one? Can a living Vahnatai ever be titled Bok, and does this imply they will become a Soul once they die? [ Sunday, November 13, 2005 14:53: Message edited by: NaNoWriMo ] -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
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written Wednesday, October 26 2005 23:37
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The Council in X2 were Boks, weren't they? -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Thursday, October 27 2005 00:35
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I thought so, but they might have been Ihrnos. I do not remember the names currently. -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
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written Thursday, October 27 2005 01:06
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Yep. Prossis-Bok, Glantris-Bok and Elohi-Bok. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Saturday, October 29 2005 12:42
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Next question: The actual process of "crystallizing" a Soul. Drakefyre states that this process is begun only after a person is dead, so there is no need for previous preparation. How long can a Vahnatai be dead before he is imbued into a crystal? Is there a time limit, or could the one thus resurrected and immortalized have died thousands of years ago? And what happens when a Crystal Soul is slain/destroyed (as we see happen to Vyvnas-Bok and Jekknol-Bok in X3): Are they permanently gone or can their spirits be restored in a new crystal? -- Just asking for wild theories and game references where possible. :) -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
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written Saturday, October 29 2005 14:24
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quote:The soul isn't put into a crystal; the crystal actually grows around the soul during the ritual. The Vahnatai are very clear about this when they explain Crystal Souls in X2. Given that the crystal is a physical manifestation of the Vahnatai's soul, destroying it probably kills it permanently. As far as I know, there hasn't been any mention of a time limit for creating a Crystal Soul, so you're free to assume there isn't any. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Tuesday, November 1 2005 04:28
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Thank you! :) And by now, I guess it is growing clear what I needed this for. Sorry for extreme crappiness, I wrote this pretty much non-stop over the last 14 hours. That's how long I've been awake. --- Prologue: First came the People of the Living Stone The Crystal-Carvers, the Master Craftsmen The Undying, the Life-Shapers. It was a whisper in the void. A wind, a breeze, barely a zephyr, a murmur amongst the gods, a disturbance in midst of the Silence, the Breath of the Living. Whence did it come? For what else was there - when the emptiness was universal, how could there be room for movement, when silence was eternal, how could there be beginning or end? It came from nowhere, but arrived somewhere. And one place was different from the other, and there was Space - and there were boundaries to Space. It was never before, but ever since, and there was a moment different from the last, and there was Time - and boundaries to Time. But where it came, it struck war into the world. For difference cannot exist without strife, and the strife swallowed the world. But there cannot be battle in the spirit. The battle turned from the spirit to the physical, as all strife must at last. For the Principles twisted their thought into solidness and hurled it through space, and there was Matter. And the Principles twisted their soul into light, and sent crackling force through time, and there was Energy. And the Universe was. The Universe splintered and became many places, and there was Plurality. Later they relearned Unity, but they did not return to the Singularity that had been before: The spirits of Creation were forever separate. The Battle raged on, and the forces of the Principles grew ever more terrible till at last the whole world was an Inferno of fire, storm, and chaos. Chaos reigned the world, and the Principles battled until entropy had consumed all their power. Thus fell night on the Universe, and it grew dark and silent. But the silence was not that which had reigned before, for it was not the silence of eternity, but the silence of resting. There would be dawn. The Spirits of Creation dwelt in the world, and the world was they. Difference had sparked not merely strife, but consciousness: The Universe grew aware it existed, and it beheld itself and contemplated its meaning. And it saw it was Imperfect. Chaos had shaped it, and itself had brought Chaos. And they named the Chaos Jel. But as such, it was flawed, for discord cannot exist by itself, and nor can it be eternal. Only through conflict was it maintained, and when the conflict has burnt itself out, the discord sinks into stagnation, as it did then. The Spirits of Creation, more than anything else, required Order, a point of stability within the Void. Structure was what would balance Discord, and bring back eternity into a doomed world. And there was Structure in Creation - there was Life: Life in the Void. And in that first night, from the dark warmth of entropy and by the Spirits that Create, there was conceived a World. A bright star, orbited by a tiny sphere of water. And there was spawned life in the seas, and then beasts on the land. And the world thrived and became ordered. And the sphere was made to rotate, and there was night and day, and two moons rolled in their orbits around the world, and there were weeks, months and years. Dawn came and shone upon the seas. And the gods looked on their work and called it Olm - Ocean. But they saw that it was not enough. Its order was a stagnant one - the cycles kept a balance, but they did not keep a dynamic balance, the beasts kept a dynamic, but they did not keep a stable dynamic. The highest order that would perfect the world and restore the Universe from Chaos had yet to come. And the gods pondered how to bring that order. For what could possibly pursue change without achieving discord; what could pursue stability without achieving stagnaion? Then Rehlko, mighty among the assembled gods (for with the naming of Olm, they took names upon themselves as well, that they might take physical form and converse as mortal creatures do), raised up his hand, and lo! Between his fingers took shape a flawless crystal, that cast rainbows from the early dawn sun. And Rehlko spoke: "Thus order is contained within the simplest structures, through perfection, simplicity and structure. Only thus can we hope to keep our world ordered. Change must be eliminated, for in change lies entropy. There cannot be a change that decreases entropy, and there cannot be change that does not lead away from perfection. We must shape this world like a diamond, flawless, ordered and eternal." And among the gods, there was great accord, for the gods had seen what horrors change - random and predicted change - could cause to a stable system. And some were proposing to begin at once, to purge Olm, their creation, of its life and rebuild the world in perfection: An eternal crystal, a silent monument to Creation and to Order. And yet, there were some who argued. And Dahrnai, who was mightier yet than Rehlko, raised his hand also and behold! Between his fingers formed a small glowing worm, and the worm wriggled in his grip as it reflected the rays of the sun. Then Dahrnai raised his voice and spoke thus: "Wise indeed do thy words seem, Rehlko, but consider: Were it not for change, we would not now exist! Hast thou not gazed into the utter past and the eternal future? Is it not change through which all our greatest advances have and will been made? What of Olm - could we have fashioned Order without fashioning change? "Behold then that Order is within life. And it is a changing order, but ever an endless cycle: Through complexity and imperfection, and the eternal striving for flawless perfection, the Order is maintained and ever grows in scope. A self-structuring Order, a self-growing Order, a self-repairing Order. Crystals may be broken, but life, once planted, is impossible to erase completely." And Rehlko replied, and said: "It seems stable, but what happens with this life thou speak'st of? Does it not ever evolve in quality and structure, becoming powerful even as ourselves? Will not this worm thou hast in thy hand grow aware of itself if given half a chance? And truly, what then? For dost thou not see what terror lies within the life that knows itself - the ever continuing hunger for power, for instability? "Truly, I say unto thee: If we let life continue as it has on Olm, then it will meet doom by its own hands. For through imperfection, life may grow dynamic, but through its striving for perfection, it will grow mad. There will be wars and battles, and that which you have ordered will be brought to fight against and amongst itself, and come to ruin through its own power: The Paradox of wisdom." And Dahrnai called out: "Then is it not better to have stable order for a while, rather than a fragile, never evolving order for all of foreseeable time? Can we not intercede when this life uses force on itself?" "Can we not build a better crystal when this one is broken, or does not satisfy us anymore?" Rehlko retorted. And one amongst the gods, who rarely spoke but whose name was Orin, the Wise, though he counted little within their lot, raised his voice to intervene: "No indeed, we may not. We may not rebuild life, and we may not rebuild the crystal: We may not change this world once it is done, and indeed, we may not change it now, more than a single, last time. Thus we have determined that order might prevail. For behold: Chaos lieth within us, as doth Order! But if we are to be constantly amending a world to keep it safe, how then can the world be ordered? Will we not rather contaminate its order with our own chaos? Would it not be as if we had never wrought this world at all? "Nay, to keep this world, we must leave it alone. Therein lieth the danger: If this world is instable or doomed, then it must fall, for our intercession cannot save it. The world must be capable of keeping itself in Order when we do not watch it." And then Zaratis, the mightiest of the assembled gods, spoke, and the rest of the gods fell silent and ceased their arguing: For it was he who had conceived of Olm, and he who had shaped its life and cycles, and while they had shaped the world together, it was he who had done the most. When he spoke, it was not in the archaic fashion of the others, for he did not need to assume a cloak of veneration, to cloak his words in wisdom so that he might appear wise. And Zaratis spoke, and they listened to his words: "What way then remains to us? If life is doomed, and stone is not eternal, and we may not intercede to bring Olm back into its path should it leave it, then how can it ever be complete? "I tell you, Rehlko, that indeed your flawless crystal is the only way to keep the world structured, and Dahrnai, life is the only thing that can keep stability. Behold, therefore, that we must combine the two if we are to fashion a world that can eternally keep itself Ordered." And he raised both is hands, and behold: The air shaped itself in the form of a large crystal. But the crystal was not ordinary, for it was not translucent: It shone with an inner light, and the light pulsed as a heartbeat, and bright silver points, like stars, moved within the material so that it seemed the nightsky itself was contained in the stone. "I show unto you the Living Crystal, that which can structure itself and attain perfection: That which will evolve when it is imperfect, and repair itself when it is flawed, and remain stable no matter how close it comes to perfection. "And you shall fashion a race of beings who shall be like this stone I have shown you. They shall be strong and unbending as the stone, but light as the airiest geode. They shall be nimble and quick as the glittering dust of diamond on the wind, but impervious as the roots of the world. Mighty in the ways of power and the mind, knowledge shall be their goal: For in the quest for power lies doom, but in the quest for knowledge lies wisdom, and thus Order. And of all things, they shall hold crystal and life in the highest value, and to them be granted the skill of crafting the crystal, and the art of shaping life to their desire. And they shall themselves be alive, but have the power to take the shape of a crystal when they would change no more, and they shall seek no goal on Olm save that of Knowledge. And you shall call them the People of the Living Crystal." Thus Zaratis spoke, and thus it was done. And the People of Living Crystal populated the Earth, and kept it ordered, and the gods looked again upon the world they had fashioned, and at last they saw it was good. And thus they withdrew from these Earthly confines, and have never again acted to influence it. But the People lived on, and their quest for Knowledge and Learning endures eternally. They use their powers to stabilize the world and bring it to higher order, and they are forever the pinnacle of Creation. --- Excerpt from the first chapter of the Vahnatai religious text. -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Master
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written Tuesday, November 1 2005 04:35
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My god... I can't believe you have the patience to make such a thing... Its ptobably the same patience as I have when writing stories in latin. Go on with this, it could become very interesting. -------------------- Play and rate my scenarios: Where the rivers meet View my upcoming scenario: The Nephil Search: Escape. Give us your drek! Posts: 3029 | Registered: Saturday, June 18 2005 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Tuesday, November 1 2005 05:19
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I hope it does. After all, I'm going to have to spend another 29 days and 48032 words on it... :P -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Agent
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written Tuesday, November 1 2005 14:34
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@_@ Wow, boombastic! What a beautiful flow of diction. You do think in English, don't you? :) Then this would be the place where we can follow your success? -------------------- Slartucker: * facepalm facepalm facepalm * Dikiyoba: Are you unconscious yet? Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00 |
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Lifecrafter
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written Tuesday, November 1 2005 16:37
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Nice dialog. But where are you going to fit it into the scenario. My only concern is if people will be patient enough to read it (especially if the whole thing is like that.) Anyway I didn't play A2, so I don't know how much of that is just off the top of your head, but it looks good. -------------------- Guaranteed to blow your mind. Frostbite: Get It While It's...... Hot? Posts: 900 | Registered: Monday, August 8 2005 07:00 |
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BANNED
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written Tuesday, November 1 2005 16:51
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quote:Quoted for idiocy. -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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...b10010b...
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written Tuesday, November 1 2005 17:30
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To elaborate on TM's somewhat unhelpful reply: it's not for a scenario, it's for a novel. -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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BANNED
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written Tuesday, November 1 2005 18:25
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quote:Quoted for politesse -------------------- * Posts: 6936 | Registered: Tuesday, September 18 2001 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Tuesday, November 1 2005 22:24
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quote:1. In writing, yes. When speaking, I'm more fluent in German. 2. Assuming it does not annoy people too much. After all, it doesn't really have a place in BoA and this appears to confuse some people. :rolleyes: So I'll post the rest as it is written, and once it gets locked I'll know it's not supposed to be here - the link will be in my sig. Edit: Oh, and by the way, the almost pretentiously archaic style is intentional. It's supposed to sound biblical after all - the actual story is going to sound much more normal. [ Tuesday, November 01, 2005 23:43: Message edited by: NaNoWriMo ] -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Master
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written Wednesday, November 2 2005 00:29
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quote:Quoted so I can ask TM politely if he can stop doing this? Did anybody here read the hole story? I stopped somewhere in the middle because of lack of patience. [ Wednesday, November 02, 2005 00:30: Message edited by: Thralni, emperor of Riverrod ] -------------------- Play and rate my scenarios: Where the rivers meet View my upcoming scenario: The Nephil Search: Escape. Give us your drek! Posts: 3029 | Registered: Saturday, June 18 2005 07:00 |
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Agent
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written Wednesday, November 2 2005 01:20
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quote::eek: The hole story? Boy, this is even not the whole first chapter. Do you read whole books sometimes? :P -------------------- Slartucker: * facepalm facepalm facepalm * Dikiyoba: Are you unconscious yet? Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00 |
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Master
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written Wednesday, November 2 2005 01:52
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I'll ask it again: Did anybody read the enormous text that is written in the first post? And yes, I do read hole books. Not books as thick as the bible, but I do read hole books. -------------------- Play and rate my scenarios: Where the rivers meet View my upcoming scenario: The Nephil Search: Escape. Give us your drek! Posts: 3029 | Registered: Saturday, June 18 2005 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Wednesday, November 2 2005 02:01
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I would like to ask which hole you mean. I am pretty sure I smoothed it over sufficiently before posting here. No holes in my story, no sir. Also, patience is usually a plus when reading. -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Warrior
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written Wednesday, November 2 2005 02:03
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A hole book, presumably, is one that has a hole in the middle. These were sometimes used to hide valuables from burglars. -------------------- "Toleration is not the opposite of intoleration, but is the counterfeit of it. Both are despotisms. The one assumes to itself the right of withholding liberty of conscience, and the other of granting it." ---Thomas Paine Posts: 156 | Registered: Thursday, January 8 2004 08:00 |
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...b10010b...
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written Wednesday, November 2 2005 02:06
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Replying to your own posts still counts as double posting even if done with a different account, you know. :P [ Wednesday, November 02, 2005 02:09: Message edited by: Explode Thuryl Now ] -------------------- The Empire Always Loses: This Time For Sure! Posts: 9973 | Registered: Saturday, March 30 2002 08:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Wednesday, November 2 2005 02:29
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Only if a nosy moderator rats you out. :P -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |
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Master
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written Wednesday, November 2 2005 03:24
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hole book. hmmm. Yes, I know, its stupid. I suppose you guys understand what I do mean? Hole. How stupid. Whole is what I mean. -------------------- Play and rate my scenarios: Where the rivers meet View my upcoming scenario: The Nephil Search: Escape. Give us your drek! Posts: 3029 | Registered: Saturday, June 18 2005 07:00 |
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Agent
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written Wednesday, November 2 2005 15:01
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:P So long as you don't mix hole books and holy books it's only funny. Sometimes they could easily be mistaken though ... -------------------- Slartucker: * facepalm facepalm facepalm * Dikiyoba: Are you unconscious yet? Posts: 1420 | Registered: Wednesday, October 2 2002 07:00 |
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Law Bringer
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written Wednesday, November 2 2005 20:12
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Holy books sometimes have serious plot holes... --- Also, I needed yesterday evening and this morning to study at the last minute for a Unix exam today. Next to no words - fortunately I'm already ahead of the schedule, so I can afford to lose some time. 4228, while after the first two days I'd only need to be at 3334 words. -------------------- Encyclopaedia • Archives • Members • RSS [Topic / Forum] • Blog • Polaris • NaNoWriMo Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair. I have a love of woodwind instruments. Posts: 8752 | Registered: Wednesday, May 14 2003 07:00 |