"I don't think that you understand the weight of the situation," said the reporter - about the only challenging one left on Earth.
"No, L.-Ané, I think that you are the one who lacks such an understanding. Science does not stop simply because a few people find it inconvenient. You should remember your history. The dark ages of Europe, the Middle East, and North America could not last forever. Even in modern times, with everything interconnected, it can't all be blocked out."
"But don't you see how our society has grown since then? Homosexuality is no longer considered a sin, nor even a choice."
"Tell me," said T.-Valon, "do you think that the motives for my actions determine them to be good or evil, or the actions themselves?"
"Of course your motives matter. It is one thing to launch a rocket to explore the stars, and quite another to do so only to bear a warhead."
"My motives are the furthering of science and the betterment of mankind. Why is that a problem?"
"Because gay births have dropped off completely everywhere that you've harvested trebulon j, and because you don't seem to even be aware of what you've done."
"What have I done? I discovered trebulon j, and I've been harvesting it from the environment wherever I could find it, so that I could study it. And, though I have yet to find a practical use for the damn stuff, no harm has yet come of my experiments."
"But the birth rates --"
"Are the same as they ever were. Mine is a large company, L.-Ané. We've been doing our own research, and it corroborates the independent studies. There's been neither decrease in birth rates nor increase in death rates or cancer or mutation or STDs or even the common cold! The only thing that has happened is that, where we made our first harvests of trebulon j, there now no longer originate homosexuals. But everyone seems to assume that this is some sort of evil plot, and it's probably due to my age."
T.-Valon stood, and moved to face a window. "I'm quite old, as I'm sure that you're aware, and I've seen a great deal in my time. In my earliest days, I saw the turmoil surrounding the change that you suggested earlier. I know quite well - probably better than any of your peers - that our society has changed in this way. But you - all of you - you've grown up taking this for granted, but you seem to be confused about something."
There was silence for a moment, so she decided that he was waiting for her to ask. "What is that?"
He turned to face her again. "Do you think that homosexuality is a virtue?"
As she had come to almost expect from him, it was a question that she'd never heard asked before. Caught off guard, her brain moved her mouth with the first thing that she knew of it. "It's not a sin..."
He moved toward her, and rested his hands on the back of his own chair. "It's not a vice, but is it a virtue? Is a gay man somehow better than a straight man?"
"Well, no, not in that sense..."
"In some other sense, then?"
"Not in any sense, when you get right down to it."
"Well, at least you've got that part figured out, which is more than I can say for the others. I knew that I'd not regret interviewing you. So, tell me, do you understand my perspective now?"
She peered at him with great suspicion. "You know, the scary thing is that I think that I almost do."
"In that case, would you still like the tour?"
"I think that I'll take a pass anyway, thanks." L.-Ané stood and went to leave. As she approached the door, T.-Valon suddenly asked her, "Would you like me to predict the future?"
"The famed scientist and industrialist T.-Valon, engaging in fortune-telling? This I have to hear."
He didn't seem to hear her joke. His mildly flippant tone had grown somber and sincere. "You will see eugenics in your lifetime, but it will not come from me. Eventually, we will discover how to efficiently synthesize trebulon j. It will occur too soon, though, and when it does, the people will ask - nay, demand that it be made in large quantities and released into the environments where it was first taken. And on that day, you will know eugenics, but you will be alone. Good day, L.-Ané."
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Defenders of the Realm
I recently got a chance to play Defenders of the Realm, and I'd like to share my thoughts briefly.
The gameplay is quite fun. I tend to enjoy challenging cooperative games, and this one doesn't disappoint. The base game comes with a variety of adventurers, and there are several adventurer expansion packs. Most characters have simple abilities that still add a lot to the game. For example, I forget the Dwarf's first power, but his second power lets him re-roll failed dice against dragonkin - the hardest monsters to kill - and his third power reduces his damage per turn by 1, which, among other things, allows him to stay in a spot with 1 enemy at the end of his turn without taking any damage at all, so that he can finish them off on the next turn. I had a lot of fun playing the Eagle Rider and questing all over the board.
Pro tip: The movement mechanics of the cards are a lot easier to understand once you realize that the top-left symbol always ignores color. (Really, the portal mechanics were the most confusing.) Between the character variety and the quests, there's plenty of replay value in the base game alone.
The gameplay is quite fun. I tend to enjoy challenging cooperative games, and this one doesn't disappoint. The base game comes with a variety of adventurers, and there are several adventurer expansion packs. Most characters have simple abilities that still add a lot to the game. For example, I forget the Dwarf's first power, but his second power lets him re-roll failed dice against dragonkin - the hardest monsters to kill - and his third power reduces his damage per turn by 1, which, among other things, allows him to stay in a spot with 1 enemy at the end of his turn without taking any damage at all, so that he can finish them off on the next turn. I had a lot of fun playing the Eagle Rider and questing all over the board.
Pro tip: The movement mechanics of the cards are a lot easier to understand once you realize that the top-left symbol always ignores color. (Really, the portal mechanics were the most confusing.) Between the character variety and the quests, there's plenty of replay value in the base game alone.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Sudden Short Story 32
The adventurers made their way deeper under the ground, the way ahead lit only by the magical torches that they carried. The human wore scale mail and bore a round, wooden shield in his other hand. The elf wore studded leather, and carried a longbow. They grew thirsty, as their water had run out the previous day, and they had been unable to find any water along the way.
Their journey through the underdark had led through tunnels wide and narrow, high and low, winding and straight. This area happened to be very tall, and wide enough for an entire party to walk abreast with room to spare. They reached a turn, to the right, and hadn't gone far when the elf spotted what appeared to be a pool of water ahead, with several high rocks around it. When they approached, the elf suddenly dropped his eternal torch and knocked an arrow.
"What are you doing?" asked the man.
"I'm making sure that my hand's free in case I need to shoot something. What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Well, why are you doing that now, of all times?"
"I just botched a Perception roll, that's why. I don't know how useful this will be, though. Since we're without a Rogue, it's probably a trap."
"Am I to understand that you're readying your weapon on the grounds that you didn't see anything?"
"Well, if we take it slow, then I might get another roll, and maybe I can act during the surprise round."
"Do you have any idea how stupid this sounds?"
"Hey, better safe than sorry."
"OK, fine," said the man, tossing his torch down near the pool and pulling out his longsword. "Here. We'll take it in turns. You go fill your waterskin while I cover you."
Begrudgingly, the elf put away his arrow, picked up his own torch, and made his way toward the pool, his companion at his side every step of the way. He knelt by the pool and placed his bow and torch down on either side of him, specifying that each was within arm's reach. He was about to dip his waterskin in when he stopped.
"Wait, we're in the underdark. What if the water's poisoned?"
"Isn't there some kind of roll that you can make to taste-test it?"
"Why should I have to do it?"
"Because you're the Ranger! Here, if it makes you feel better, I'll swing my sword around in front of me, just in case someone's invisible and adjacent. Just hurry up."
"Yeah, alright...." With that, he scooped a handful of the liquid out of the pool and tasted it as he knelt.
With that, the transparent ooze rose out of the small pit, swallowing him whole.
The human turned around to see what had happened. "HAH!" he said, "Nice."
And then they rolled Initiative.
Their journey through the underdark had led through tunnels wide and narrow, high and low, winding and straight. This area happened to be very tall, and wide enough for an entire party to walk abreast with room to spare. They reached a turn, to the right, and hadn't gone far when the elf spotted what appeared to be a pool of water ahead, with several high rocks around it. When they approached, the elf suddenly dropped his eternal torch and knocked an arrow.
"What are you doing?" asked the man.
"I'm making sure that my hand's free in case I need to shoot something. What does it look like I'm doing?"
"Well, why are you doing that now, of all times?"
"I just botched a Perception roll, that's why. I don't know how useful this will be, though. Since we're without a Rogue, it's probably a trap."
"Am I to understand that you're readying your weapon on the grounds that you didn't see anything?"
"Well, if we take it slow, then I might get another roll, and maybe I can act during the surprise round."
"Do you have any idea how stupid this sounds?"
"Hey, better safe than sorry."
"OK, fine," said the man, tossing his torch down near the pool and pulling out his longsword. "Here. We'll take it in turns. You go fill your waterskin while I cover you."
Begrudgingly, the elf put away his arrow, picked up his own torch, and made his way toward the pool, his companion at his side every step of the way. He knelt by the pool and placed his bow and torch down on either side of him, specifying that each was within arm's reach. He was about to dip his waterskin in when he stopped.
"Wait, we're in the underdark. What if the water's poisoned?"
"Isn't there some kind of roll that you can make to taste-test it?"
"Why should I have to do it?"
"Because you're the Ranger! Here, if it makes you feel better, I'll swing my sword around in front of me, just in case someone's invisible and adjacent. Just hurry up."
"Yeah, alright...." With that, he scooped a handful of the liquid out of the pool and tasted it as he knelt.
With that, the transparent ooze rose out of the small pit, swallowing him whole.
The human turned around to see what had happened. "HAH!" he said, "Nice."
And then they rolled Initiative.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Current Reading
Since I blogged about something that I read recently, I thought that I might blog about what I'm planning to read in the near future. So, here we go.
- A Clash of Kings - I've been wanting to start into A Song of Ice and Fire for a while now. Now that I've read A Game of Thrones, I want to see what happens next. This will also help give me a better buffer against spoilers, which only really became an issue with that HBO series; I don't know whether it will press into the territory of the later books, but I'd rather be safe about it.
- A Princess of Mars - This is mostly because I've recently acquired an interest in the planetary romance genre. Most references to that genre seem to relate the Barsoom series as among its defining works, so I thought that I'd give it a whirl.
- Dune - I saw this classified as planetary romance, as well, and I've been meaning to read it for a long time, anyway.
- a collection of brothers Grimm fairy tales - At one point, I picked up three books of fairy tales. I've finished two of them, but I still need to read this one. Of course, original fairy tales from the brothers Grimm are also of interest to me, anyway.
- the complete works of H.P. Lovecraft - This has been on my long-term to-read list for quite a while. Discovering The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast gave me a new motivation, and also an order (chronologically by date written), though I've fallen behind.
Regarding A Game of Thrones
WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for the novel A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin.
The spoilers leaking out of people due to the popular HBO series A Game of Thrones bumped the novel up on my reading list. I finished it recently, so I thought that I'd share some thoughts on it.
Overall, I liked it. The perspective characters were used effectively. The story also seemed to effectively convey a world in which magic once existed, but now was all but gone, at least in the main area. I was actually a bit relieved when the corpses found north of the wall turned out to be revenants, since I was starting to worry that there wouldn't be any actual magic involved.
I suffered some disappointment near the end, though. For one, when Drogo learned of the king's orders to assassinate Daenerys, and committed himself to taking his khalasar across the sea, I was like thinking, "Alright, this is going to happen." But then, it didn't. Also, when Dany's child wound up being stillborn, it of course raised questions about the nature of prophecy in the world, but I think that I was even more disappointed when I read the description of it, which included scales and everything. We could have had some kind of draconic dude in this story and we didn't?!
Well, at least the dragons hatched by the end. Those eggs were such a tease.
It sounds like I'm complaining but I think that that's because it's easier to specify what disappointed me (not necessarily "disliked") than it is to specify what I actually liked.
That said, don't get me started on how crappy Mirri Maz Duur's plan was.
P.S.: Are all of the books going to include the title (maybe minus the leading article) in the dialogue?
The spoilers leaking out of people due to the popular HBO series A Game of Thrones bumped the novel up on my reading list. I finished it recently, so I thought that I'd share some thoughts on it.
Overall, I liked it. The perspective characters were used effectively. The story also seemed to effectively convey a world in which magic once existed, but now was all but gone, at least in the main area. I was actually a bit relieved when the corpses found north of the wall turned out to be revenants, since I was starting to worry that there wouldn't be any actual magic involved.
I suffered some disappointment near the end, though. For one, when Drogo learned of the king's orders to assassinate Daenerys, and committed himself to taking his khalasar across the sea, I was like thinking, "Alright, this is going to happen." But then, it didn't. Also, when Dany's child wound up being stillborn, it of course raised questions about the nature of prophecy in the world, but I think that I was even more disappointed when I read the description of it, which included scales and everything. We could have had some kind of draconic dude in this story and we didn't?!
Well, at least the dragons hatched by the end. Those eggs were such a tease.
It sounds like I'm complaining but I think that that's because it's easier to specify what disappointed me (not necessarily "disliked") than it is to specify what I actually liked.
That said, don't get me started on how crappy Mirri Maz Duur's plan was.
P.S.: Are all of the books going to include the title (maybe minus the leading article) in the dialogue?
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
How to Make a Justice League Film
So, DC has been having some issues lately, among which are problems with their attempts at getting in on the whole live-action theatrically-released superhero film thing. The latest word is that there won't be a Justice League film. Still, if DC wants to make a Justice League film, then here are some thoughts about that:
Firstly, DC will need to pick one of two directions. They can either make serious films or make silly ones. (It would be too difficult to copy the balance of seriousness, action, and humor that Marvel has without appearing to outright copy Marvel.) Based on the success of Nolan's Batman trilogy, it seems like that could be a good route to take, so I'll pursue that with this train of thought.
Who exactly is in the Justice League will depend on a few things. You'll want heroes who are recognizable, and cool, but also who aren't too far out of scale with one another. Superman is obviously a must-have in a DC property, so that sets the bar pretty high as far as power level goes. Green Lantern has the right power level for that, but it would have to be Hal Jordan, and that would likely require a reboot if we're to take him sufficiently seriously.
Here's a short list for consideration:
If DC goes the sillier route, then here's a short list for that:
Firstly, DC will need to pick one of two directions. They can either make serious films or make silly ones. (It would be too difficult to copy the balance of seriousness, action, and humor that Marvel has without appearing to outright copy Marvel.) Based on the success of Nolan's Batman trilogy, it seems like that could be a good route to take, so I'll pursue that with this train of thought.
Who exactly is in the Justice League will depend on a few things. You'll want heroes who are recognizable, and cool, but also who aren't too far out of scale with one another. Superman is obviously a must-have in a DC property, so that sets the bar pretty high as far as power level goes. Green Lantern has the right power level for that, but it would have to be Hal Jordan, and that would likely require a reboot if we're to take him sufficiently seriously.
Here's a short list for consideration:
- Recent iterations of Aquaman are actually cool and he's pretty badass; in addition to his own (admittedly limited on this scale) powers, he's the king of Atlantis, and thus commands an entire submarine navy whose technology appears to at least match that of the surface-dwellers. The main risk with using him is that older people will remember him from his presence on Super Friends.
- J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, is actually a prime target for a film adaptation these days. Between CGI and motion capture, a greenish-skinned shapeshifter could be done without breaking suspension of disbelief.
- Batman is a problem. He's definitely cool, but it's hard to scale him up without disturbing the coveted suspension of disbelief. It might be necessary to leave him in Gotham for this.
- Captain Marvel is a problem, but for different reasons. Aside from the whole name thing, he's basically a magical counterpart to Superman as far as powers are concerned. Being a match for Superman is one thing, but actually matching him for most of his powers (strength, speed, toughness) is another matter.
- Captain Atom could use some screen time. He'll be especially stand-out if DC doesn't give Superman heat-vision. Go nuts on the bloom.
- Wonder Woman could fit if DC could figure out how to dress her. But, hey, it's not like we actually know what the ancient Greeks wore into battle or anything. (Pro tip: Say the phrase "ancient Greek lasso" out loud.)
- The Flash could work if DC ensures that he's faster than Superman.
- If audiences are OK with someone who's expressly a magic-user, then DC could do a lot worse than Dr. Fate.
If DC goes the sillier route, then here's a short list for that:
- Hal Jordan Green Lantern, as-is
- Wally West Flash
- Aquaman (silver age style)
- ... Wonder Twins? I don't know, just grab a handful of supers and be done with it.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Sudden Short Story 31
"... The thing that seems to stand out the most in your portfolio is the matter of your private library."
"Public"
"Sorry?"
"Well, I have a private library, but I have a great many private expenditures for my own benefit that aren't profitable in and of themselves. I assume that you're referring to my public library."
"What do you mean when you say 'public'?"
"I mean just what it sounds like I mean. The library is open for anyone and everyone to use at no cost. Most of the books can be checked out, at no cost, so long as one has a library card, which also has no cost. It's a public library, and, as I understand it, the last one in existence."
"But... aside from your staff, who are paid to do so, nobody ever enters or leaves the building except for you."
"Well, that's probably why it stands out on my portfolio. Not only is it the least profitable of my ventures, but it actually loses money. The staff - librarians, cleaning crew, maintenance - aren't working for free, you know."
"Well, from how you explain it, it wouldn't matter if you had a thousand people checking out a thousand books a day for a thousand years, it would still lose money."
"That's correct."
"But, for all your market genius, for all your ingenuity, why haven't you figured out a way to monetize it?"
"Because... It's a library."
"I'm afraid that I don't understand."
"Nor does anyone else, it seems, and that, I find, is the saddest thing these days."
"Public"
"Sorry?"
"Well, I have a private library, but I have a great many private expenditures for my own benefit that aren't profitable in and of themselves. I assume that you're referring to my public library."
"What do you mean when you say 'public'?"
"I mean just what it sounds like I mean. The library is open for anyone and everyone to use at no cost. Most of the books can be checked out, at no cost, so long as one has a library card, which also has no cost. It's a public library, and, as I understand it, the last one in existence."
"But... aside from your staff, who are paid to do so, nobody ever enters or leaves the building except for you."
"Well, that's probably why it stands out on my portfolio. Not only is it the least profitable of my ventures, but it actually loses money. The staff - librarians, cleaning crew, maintenance - aren't working for free, you know."
"Well, from how you explain it, it wouldn't matter if you had a thousand people checking out a thousand books a day for a thousand years, it would still lose money."
"That's correct."
"But, for all your market genius, for all your ingenuity, why haven't you figured out a way to monetize it?"
"Because... It's a library."
"I'm afraid that I don't understand."
"Nor does anyone else, it seems, and that, I find, is the saddest thing these days."
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