The Gray Note
February 12, 2011
Perhaps you’ll understand what I’m about to share with you, and perhaps you won’t.
I often seek something I call The Gray Note. What is it?? It’s a sound that, when you hear, it takes you away, time forgotten, and your mind begins working at an incredible pace and in a rare harmony. My mentor at Ohio State told me about the existence of the Gray Note–that it was something he experienced once years before and had sought it out ever since. You never simply hear the Gray Note, it pulls you inside, like the embrace of an ancestor, and once you’re there conception is unbound and you’ve access to places in your own imagination never visited before–places you didn’t know existed. It’s like unlocking a hidden floor in a department store, full of treasures, where the public normally isn’t permitted to see.
Roebling Bridge (Cincinnati, Ohio)
I often returned to the Roebling to try and recapture The Gray Note, but it never was the same, and I’ve looked for it ever since, always elusive and just beyond my reach. I’ve hunted it, like King Arthur’s Questing Beast.
Today, I found the Gray Note again, in an unexpected place.
My wife wanted to stop at Target and get a few things. I really didn’t want to go, but she insisted. We went inside and she grabbed a cart and started shopping. We made our way to the vast frozen food section, all the cases full of whirring fans, that droning staccato sound they made.
Target
As we moved down the aisle, there it was, in just the right spot, I re-discovered the Gray Note, rich and proud, full of life and creation.
As before, I fell in. Vast new worlds opened up, I created entire novels, beginnings and endings. Whole lives danced in front of me. I could have died there …
And then my wife shook me and it was gone. She said I was standing there in a stupor, like I was catatonic.
And there I was, back on Earth.
“Did you hear it?” I asked her.
“Hear what? I just hear noise.”
And my hunt continues …
Bowl Naked
RG
TOTEH Characters: Lady Poe
February 11, 2011
"Lady Poe of Blanchefort" by Carol Phillips
For most of her life Lady Poe was thought to be mentally ill, falling into frequent spells and was often taken by her father Sadric into the care of the Sisters. Mental illness is unheard of in the League, and such an infirmity was a scandal for the House of Blanchefort. Thusly, Lady Poe was considered to be social poison.
Later, it was discovered that Lady Poe was a hidden Shadow tech female and was suffering from Shadow tech poisoning. Her gigantic Shadowmark had been hidden underneath a latex cover. Sygillis of Blanchefort took Lady Poe under her wing and taught her to properly harness her Shadow tech.
Poe quickly mastered her Shadow tech and turned it to silver. She began creating Silver tech familiars that were very accomplished in their complexity. Her greatest creation was a little seal named Carahil, who became a god.
"Lady Poe" by Bea Matarredona-Garcia
Always kind and patient, Lady Poe is considered to be a saint by all who know her. She has a great love of children, and is the teacher of her children and of her brother’s children as well: Kay, Kilos and Hathaline.
Carahil was a dutiful son and always remembered to visit his mother on her birthday no matter how far away his travels took him. At her latest birthday celebration, Carahil seemed unusually dour and concerned, rather unlike his usual jovial self.
Lady Poe asked him what was wrong, and, in measured tones, he said “I need your help, Mother.”
And he told her what was going to happen, and she was appalled.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
TOTEH Characters: Paraflies
February 9, 2011
THE LEAGUE SCIENCE MINISTRY is quite concerned about a sudden infestation of Kana by a previously unidentified species of insect that is clearly a transplant from off-world.
"Paraflies" by Carol Phillips
Word is spreading that Paraflies carry an enormous stinger and a cocktail of poisons making it one of the most poisonous creatures on Kana, though dissections of southern specimens revealed no stinger.
"Paraflies" by Carol Phillips
Clearly not native to Kana, the Parafly is assumed to be a transplant from another League world, possibly a stowaway from Onaris or Bazz, two places known for their exotic and rather large insect life. However, the Parafly does not resemble any known species of insect from either of those two worlds.
A rumor in Zenon has cropped up regarding Paraflies and ghosts, that they are attracted by the presence of ghosts.
The Jones temple of Bazz, accustomed to dealing with large insects, believe the Parafly is an engineered creature, or purpose bred. If true, the person or persons responsible for breeding them and why is not known.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
TOTEH Characters: Lon
February 4, 2011
"Lon of Probert" by Eve Ventrue
He is the youngest son of Lord Milos and Lady Branna of Probert. His father is the lead engineer for the Stellar Fleet having designed the prolific Straylight and Triumph classes of warships. His mother is one of the four Imperitors of the Science Ministry. The tiny Lon inherited his father’s skill and his mother’s curiosity. He was a round, rather awkward boy standing where a handsome man will one day be; his silly appearance belying his intelligence and capability. At an early age he mastered the CEROS, the LosCapricos weapon of House Probert and the PITCOCK WONDER GUN, the same of his mother’s house. Being a Probert, Lon has no Gifts, save his talents and his wits. He often makes use of a number of gadgets and goggles that enhance him greatly.
"Lon of Probert" by Bea Matarredona-Garcia
Lon met Lady Sammidoran of Monama at the Falling in Love ball at Castle Blanchefort. He was captivated by the tall Monama woman, and, as she appeared to be a social outcast and apparently available, he convinced himself that he was in love with her. When she came to him in the city of Arden with a number of technical questions, he was certain she felt something for him too. They sat down to lunch and what he told her set the stage for all that followed.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
TOTEH Characters: Phillip
February 2, 2011
"Phillip and Sarah" by Eve Ventrue
He is tall and thin like a standard Blanchefort, with the sturdy ruggedness of the Esthers (his father, Lord Peter of Ruthven, is of Esther stock). He wears his auburn hair short and neat in the Esther style, unlike his cousin Kay who wears his purple hair long and tailed, Vith-style. Being the son of a Shadow tech female, Phillip has captivating silver eyes with rather hypnotic qualities. He is often able to charm people with them if he so wishes.
"Phillip" by Bea Matarredona-Garcia
Phillip was declared by the Stertors to have only one Gift: the Sight. His Sight is fairly well advanced for a boy his age. Everything Phillip does, he excels at in his quiet, humble fashion.
Inset depicting Phillip's name carved into a MT CALM
If he only knew of the hellion, far away, just waiting to pounce on him. Makes a Black Hat look tame in comparison.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
TOTEH Characters: Kay
February 1, 2011
"Kay" by Eve Ventrue
Slight as a child, green-eyed like his mother and sporting an odd head of purple hair, Kay was considered a flawed non-Vith by the lords and ladies who came to examine him. His younger sister, Lady Kilos, blue-eyed, blue-haired, was considered a perfect Vith, and Kay often felt humiliated by the scorn he received.
"Kay" by Bea Matarredona-Garcia
And, the most unkind blow of all–Kay didn’t seem to have the Gift of Sight. The Sight was a Blanchefort tradition going back thousands of years going back to a time when the old Blanchefort lords used it to sack villages and slay enemies, and Kay saw nothing beyond the mundane. The Stertors, a branch of the Sisterhood of Light, came to the House to proclaim his Gifts and pronounced him having two: the Gift of Waft and the Gift of Cloak.
No Sight. Thousands of years tradition lost.
"Kay Falling" by Carol Phillips
That’s when he heard the Voice speak to him for the first time.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
TOTEH Characters: Sarah
January 31, 2011
"Sarah of Blanchefort" by Eve Ventrue
Sarah is the spitting image of her maternal grandmother, Countess Hermilane, right down to the blue hair and rather pugnacious temperament. Sarah is a notorious tom-boy, and often dresses like a boy, eschewing the fine Blanchefort gowns her mother wishes she’d wear. She is Gifted with the Gift of Sight, a usual Blanchefort Gift, and the Gift of Strength, which is unusual for a girl to receive. Her mother has forbidden her from powering up inside the castle due to past mayhems she has caused.
Sarah refuses to see any gentleman hoping to court her unless they first have a “cool-sounding” name. The Blancheforts had to issue a public apology to the House of Posie after Sarah refused to see their son, Houck.
"Sarah" by Bea Matarredona-Garcia
Sarah is often said to be bull-headed, quick to judge, quick to get angry, loud-mouthed and opinionated in the extreme. To those she loves, she is loyal and dedicated, steadfast to the end. To those she does not know or dislikes, however, she is rude, rather boorish and, often-times, a vile bully. She has a running feud going with Kay’s sister, Lady Kilos, and often calls her Tez, which means “cheap prostitute” in Esther. Nobody can recall when the feud began or who started it, but Sarah takes every opportunity to be mean to her. Kay often speculates that Sarah is simply jealous of Kilos because she has the Gift of Stare, a Gift that Sarah had hoped to have.
"Sarah in Waam" by Carol Phillips
Sarah appears in all three books in the Temple trilogy. The first book, The Dead Held Hands will be out in March, 2011 by Loconeal Publishing.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
The Weird World of LosCapricos Weapons
January 25, 2011
CARG
Facing a LosCapricos weapon in battle is a bewildering thing. Some are fairly straight forward in design and concept, (swords, knives, pistols, and so forth), some are purely technological in nature, while others are bizarre in the extreme and perform any number of mystical effects. Knowledge is one’s best defense against an LC; knowing what they are and what they do is key to surviving against them. Learning LC lore is a required field of study for boys in most Vith Great Houses.
Captain Davage and his King CARG
The Deadly Princess Vrok of Xandarr with her BEREN (Carol Phillips)
RUMALORE: A Rumalore is a bit of disinformation regarding a LC that has been filed with the Sisterhood of Light. The Sisters have a complete listing of each weapon and what they do. A Rumalore is intended to either hide a weakness or foster fear of an LC. For example—the NAS of House Albans, a small jewel-encrusted dagger, was said to create wounds that would bleed forever, and that only the Sisters or the Hospitalers could stem the bleeding. The relentless wounding power of the NAS was a Rumalore exaggerating the power of the NAS, as small, shallow cuts inflicted by it would indeed stop bleeding on their own after several hours.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
The Yoda Way
January 20, 2011
Antioch College
Yellow Springs is a pocket of profound liberalism tucked deep in the conservative gullet of Southwestern Ohio. Founded with the intention of being a Utopian Society, it’s like a weird Austin Powers movie brought to life where long hair, bad teeth and men who wear skirts is the norm rather than the exception. Ground Zero of all this strangeness is Antioch College, which often seems more like a bizarre cult or Celtic tribe right out of the Dark Ages rather than an institution of higher learning.
Near Antioch College is a very nice bike and skating path that goes fifteen miles all the way to Xenia, passing through haunted Medway where Tecumseh was born. I used to skate that path every day. I could do it in about two hours.
On the approach to Yellow Springs, the path dives into a thick forest full of deer and wild turkeys–I liked to call it the “Sherwood Forest of Ohio”. One day I saw a man dragging another prone man off the path into the woods. I didn’t know what I was seeing–possibly a homicide in progress. I didn’t have anything to defend myself with, but I couldn’t allow it to go on unchallenged.
As I got nearer, I saw the man being dragged along the ground was actually a dummy made of cloth and rags. He was dressed in a plaid shirt and filthy jeans. He had on a werewolf mask and a pair of woolly clawed hands from a costume shop.
I couldn’t take it anymore, I had to know what was going on. I ground to a halt. “What are you doing?” I demanded.
The man doing the dragging was a typical Yellow Springs guy–unbathed, rather stinky and generally unkempt. He was wearing a hooded butternut robe that went down to his ankles. He wiped his brow and explained that it was his son’s tenth birthday.
“So?” I said.
Yoda
Only in Yellow Springs …
I thought about it a moment and started laughing. I laughed so hard I nearly fell down off my blades. “That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! You’re going to take a hackneyed Jedi Force test from a movie and apply it to your son in real life and hope that it somehow has a profound effect upon him?? You’re dumb! You’re so dumb!” I said, hardly containing myself.
The man waved me off and continued his work, dragging the dummy into the woods. I finished my skate and had no further thought about the matter.
Years later, I sit here in the basement wondering about the future. My wife wants to have a child. She’s working very hard at it, and it’s very challenging. I wonder, if we’re successful and actually do have a child, possibly a son, what will I do to teach him between good and evil, right and wrong? I actually have no idea. I can preach and cajole all I want, I can punish and rage–will any of it work??
Maybe the Yoda Way is the best way after all.
Bowl Naked
RG
TOTEH Characters: The Hospitalers
January 18, 2011
"Morgan Jeterix" by Eve Ventrue
The Elder-Kind were engineered to remain young and disease-free throughout their lives by the Elders during the CX time epoch on Cammara (200,000 years prior). Freed from the ravages of age and sickness, the Elder-Kind lost their lore of the medical arts over the ages and became rather infantile in their knowledge of their own bodies. They had no need for it any longer.
"Ennez and Beth" by Bea Matarradona-Garcia
"Ennez holding Syg's shoe" by Jon Harvey
There are a number of Sub-Orders within the Hospitaler circle of influence. Some of the more notable ones are:
The Ephysians are an order seeking to expand the Hospitalers knowledge. They often go outside of the Sisterhood’s approved lines of teaching to gather their knowledge and their methods are often called into question. The flamboyant Morgan-Jeterix, Lady of Thompson is a notable member of the Ephysian Order.
The Eyrnes were an order dedicated to promoting healing and enlightenment through Weed-fueled sex and other such pleasures. They were eventually kicked out of the Hospitalers, though the order remains active.
"Wendilnight/ Bellathauser" by Bea Matarredona-Garcia
The Knickerbaums are the Hospitaler group most often associated with shipboard Fleet travel. The Knickerbaums are dedicated to discovering, treating and documenting new maladies. Ennez of Innari and Bethrael of Moane are two notable members.
copyright 2011, Ren Garcia
The Temple of the Exploding Head 