State of the Scribe: March 2021 · 1:35am Mar 2nd, 2021
It's still a little weird to me I have to put years in these. When I switched to writing part time, then full time, I imagined that the change would be over any minute. I'd be going back to some desk to write some stupid new database code or maybe unit tests for something or other. But here we are, no breaks!
Most relevant information first. First exciting stuff is a new story, or at least new to Fimfiction. Optimal Game Master is, as the name suggests, a friendship is optimal story. This paticular one explores what CelestAI would do in the online tabletop gaming space. It's an extremely niche market (as anyone who has suffered with the almost zero updates on roll20 in the last decade can tell you), but CelestAI doesn't care. Even small groups of people are worth the effort, just... proportionally smaller. I play a little more with VR in this story, since it's something I've toyed with in the past and wanted to give a little more love. The story will be launching to Fimfiction on the 9th, and updating weekly until complete.
Next, there are two more lore articles going up on my Patreon this month. First, the culture of Seaponies, for use primarily in Forbidden Places. Discovering this is information is a big part of Kaelynn's goals as that story goes on (since not having legs sucks), so I needed to know it all, even if most of it is lightyears out of scope for the story.
There's another Lore article scheduled for the end of the month, this one on the specific Mechanics of Worldgates in Fine Print and Forbidden Places. I started with a map of some exciting and forbidden places I thought gates might be hidden, and the rest of the article just sorta grew from there. For those who don't know, these lore articles are for my patrons of any tier, and they're the reference materials I use to write my own stories. They are not required or even expected reading, and may spoil distant or tertiary aspects of stories. They can be skipped without feeling like you're "missing out", but they're a little way for me to give back to those who support me. This is what I do full time, after all.
The astute among you will probably recognize the orange color from previous months, and you're not wrong about its purpose. I have another strange little story I think some of you might care to read, and it will be freely available to any who are interested. Since Fimfiction only allows stories about Ponies, (and in this case it's not even related to an existing fandom), I'm posting it to my Patreon. Anyone can read them directly from there without donating, or if you'd like you can wait until the story is complete and I'll post a PDF of the entire thing. Up to you.
Fractional Salvage takes place on an earth that reached great technological advancement before nearly being destroyed by magical catastrophe--think Shadowrun, but without the cyberpunk. There weren't enough survivors for that. Fractional Salvage is one of those TF ideas someone gave me that I just couldn't help but want to explore. The story follows Emile, a survivor in the survivor city of Starbrook, who ventures in search of desperately needed salvage from the ruins of the space elevator.
As it turns out, the ruins were as dangerous as everyone said, buzzing with chaotic magical energies. The chaotic power fractures his soul into dozens of pieces, each one coming into being as winged pixie, with varying sex, appearance, skills, and only part of his memories. Broken into so many pieces, his former allies are now the most dangerous thing in Emile's world...
The story will told over a few months, and include all the elements people are used to from me here on fimfiction. But no ponies, so I can't post it here. I'll post a blog with a link to the first chapter on the 7th, but otherwise you won't hear about the story again until it is complete.
Lastly, the observant probably noticed the Minific on the 23rd. Someone actually asked for one! In this case, the request was a story about one of the ponies from Synthesis meeting their human for the first time. So that's coming.
The other suite of Patreon stories should be pretty recognizable, and each of those is going strong. Even Frames of War has been revived, which was a pleasant surprise to me. I'll be ending each of these calendar posts from now on with direct links to the first chapters of these stories, in case anyone is interested in checking them out. But they will all come to fimfiction as soon as they're finished.
That's a pretty busy month. I'll be sharing new story every day of the entire month. Busy busy. As a final note on accountability, I promised I'd be writing 1 novel/quarter this year, to publish on my own. I finally got off my butt and I'm finishing the first of those right now, so I'll hopefully have more to share next month.
Thanks so much to everyone who supports me for making all this possible. And thanks to my readers and fans who just take the time to enjoy my work. I appreciate you.
-Starscribe
Helpful Links
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3226653
Discord: https://discord.gg/ZbUXxkFNPg
Dreamlands [The batfilly who wants to save her kind by rescuing Nightmare Moon]: https://www.patreon.com/posts/45878879
Return to Sender [Message sequel following the ill-fated crew of the first ship sent to explore beyond Equestria]: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-return-27346632
The Tall Tail of Sweet Sauce [After being banished to earth, a mysterious pony returns to Equestria. His revenge doesn't go quite the way he planned.]: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-tall-46197856
Frames of War [A brave tenno risks her life to protect the origin system during the New War. She loses, but instead of dying, wakes up in a strange four-legged frame in a distant land]: https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-story-frames-35421681
Who drew the Fractional Salvage cover?