H.M.A.S Badger ~ Online Æther Ship ~ Member's Wanted (OOC Thread)

[Cornelius Nightshade]

And the Golden Jabberwocky award for working the word “ Uffish “ into casual conversation goes to,, Theosophus Grey!

Congratulations!

That alone, is reason enough for this thread, message board and the invention of the word wide web.

A grateful public thanks you.

[MWBailey]

AYE! HEAR, HEAR!

'Tis brillig, me beamish boys! Thou hast slain the Jabberwock, indeed!

*removes the knots and braidings caused by the self-imposed burr from his tongue*

I have the damnedest craving for a haggis...

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

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Um. apparently there are a number of inaccuracies in my writing of late. The most glaring is that the species Jaguarundi is not, in fact, the one known as "the miner's cat." Te proper species for that moniker is the ringtail (Bassariscus astutus). Well, perhaps the Jaguarundi supplanted the ringtail in the ssouthern hemisphere, say. Its a different multiverse, after all...(lol)

[Alexis Voltaire]

The word Sarvathin is from the dragon's language. The literal translation means 'spirit' or 'spirit world' but it has many meanings depending on use. A translation of rest of the the... stuff:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Vail Zhi ki ness dhan     turn thy wing across the sun

Devail nerassin tare     return to face the dark

Ki-ra tara-za tarahn     by wing and land to earth

Tare ni zare     in darkness kept

zi tareisin     by shadow

Tare ni kalinda     dark in chasing

Dezs dhan-ri ta kalinn     rest the light as passes

Tare ni natari     dark in coming

Tarahn-ni sarvathin     deep in spirit

Tare ni ni-natari     dark in rising

Devail inak dharelin     return not to wander

Tare ni-kalinn     dark is passing

dhan-ri devail     light in returning

Ni-kalinn tareisin     fading shadow

Devail ni Dhan     returning in light

From the time dragons call Last Light, and the month-long darkness of the lunar night, followed by First Light, and returning of the sun.

It was an experiment in rhyming another language, mostly.

[MWBailey]

That is so cool, Alexis! ( I almost said "neat-o," lol ). I was wondering if maybe the written form (assuming one exists, of course) would look like Devanagari or Runic?

[Theosophus Grey]

And the Golden Jabberwocky award for working the word “ Uffish “ into casual conversation goes to,, Theosophus Grey!

Congratulations!

That alone, is reason enough for this thread, message board and the invention of the word wide web.

A grateful public thanks you.

Your humble servant, sir - glad to see you're still with us, Jim, will you be joining us for Chapter 3?  (I did my best to emulate your sputtering rage on behalf of Allenbee, but fear I fell short of the mark... ).

[MWBailey]

Ok, here's teh Jaguarundi, in all her rusty, junkpile glory. May be I'll do an outright painting of her at some point...


Originally of a sort of powder-blue color, she's now very rusty, worn...but still the fastest Trilidian Miner in the System, and extremely dangerous if cornered or ticked off...

[Alexis Voltaire]

I like the look of Devanagari, and it seems fit the sounds of the language well. it would make sense for that to be the written form of the language, since their native blade design is similar to the khukhuri. Perhaps the same people who gave them the knife design also gave them a form of written language?

---

Of note, I'm in the process of constructing a couple of khukhuri blades (with some help from my cousin). The metal comes from a used band saw blade from a local lumber mill. It's not very thick (around 3/32, as far as I can tell) but it's so hard it takes a carbide drill bit to drill the holes in it for the pins on the handle. The metal is also 'springy' enough to be able to bend it very slightly by hand.

The blades are about 11" long above the handle, and the design is similar to these:
http://www.thekhukurihouse.com/catalog/products.php?id=3230fc98

The handles are made from some walnut my cousin got from working at a landscaping place. (I trying to use local-area materials for as much as I can.) and are held on with 2.5 ton epoxy and two brass pins.

I started out making two of them (matching pair) because the band saw blade is about six inches wide, and my cousin suggested that rough cutting out two of them, side by side, would waste less metal (it's apparently very hard to cut pieces out of the metal once it's thinner.) It turned out to be a really good idea, since the metal has to be rough cut with about a 1/4-1/8 margin around the actual shape you want, to keep it from heating up close to where the finished edge is, and loosing the temper. The rest has to be taken off on a grinding wheel, very slowly, to keep it from getting too hot. Having two of them to work on let me switch back and forth on the grinding wheel, and gave them enough time to cool off in the water between turns on the wheel.

Right now I'm in the process of rough-forming the edge on a belt sander (It was either that or the grinding wheel ) with about an 80 grit belt, and I'll probably finish it on a 120. I'll post a pic when I get one (probably when I get done.)

I have two small knives to go with them from the same metal. They're still rough and need shaping on the wheel, handles, etc. I'm planning to make leather covered wood sheaths as well, probably out of cedar.

[MagnaRyu]

can anyone link me some info on the technology used in an Aether Ship

[Theosophus Grey]

can anyone link me some info on the technology used in an Aether Ship

MagnaRyu, there is a Tech section in the Chapter 2 intro at post #207 on this thread.  Welcome aboard!

[Theosophus Grey]

Alexis, best of luck with the knife projects - I'm very jealous, I used to be heavily into knifemaking and have not been able to pursue it for some time.  It sounds like you have some excellent craft skills, have fun! 

[Zuttle D. Curious]

Tomorrow I need to go and get some more fiction books... in specific some of H.P. Lovecraft's works. I actually thought you made up the elder sign until I looked it up.

And that sounds like a really awesome project, Alexis. Looking forward to the pic of the finished knives.

[MWBailey]

That sound s cool, Alexis, I aloso cant wait to see some pics. the Sirupate are a great profile of knife. My own khukris are a big 17-inch "Police Service"/gurkha model (the type with no front bolster, rather huge-bulge panawal handle, and a tiny bit more belly to the blade than the Sirupates), and a teensy 9-inch overall, 6 1/2 inch blade silver-chased panawal, probably either a "businessman" or "letter-opener" type. Er, I'm not Asian, but Anglo-Celtic, but I have admired the Asian cultures for decades...

Anyway, show us some pics when you have 'em.

[Theosophus Grey]

Mr. Bailey, in Post #221 of the story thread Dr. Moriarty posits that the Beast is actually the Blood-Red God Cthugha, as referenced from Prof. Loftis' own book.  Miss Curious is correct in that the Elder Sign is a ward of protection, my intention was that Loftis had established a sanctum sanctorum at the consulate in case his attempts to 'chain the Beast' went awry.  The value to Grey is that it confirmed his suspicions of the 'greater goal' involved, and gave him something to confront the plotters with if necessary.   

[Theosophus Grey]

Tomorrow I need to go and get some more fiction books... in specific some of H.P. Lovecraft's works. I actually thought you made up the elder sign until I looked it up.

And that sounds like a really awesome project, Alexis. Looking forward to the pic of the finished knives.

Miss Curious, a good background and bibliography at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._P._Lovecraft

[MWBailey]

Tomorrow I need to go and get some more fiction books... in specific some of H.P. Lovecraft's works. I actually thought you made up the elder sign until I looked it up.

And that sounds like a really awesome project, Alexis. Looking forward to the pic of the finished knives.

Miss Curious, a good background and bibliography at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Lovecraft.

The link above didn't work for me, so I did a search under Elder Sigil, got a link for Elder Sign, and got the following page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elder_Sign

It shows Derleth's version on the left, and Lovecraft's version on the right (or at least it did for me, at any rate)

[Theosophus Grey]

Thank you, Mr. Bailey, I have modified the link to the intended page in wiki.

[MWBailey]

So...where to, now?

[MWBailey]

Bailey and his little cadre of "infiltration detectors" are not really sure even what it is they're looking for; its just becoming maddeningly common to hear complacently-unshielded comments that seem sinister in origin, so they are trying to pin down exactly who and where... how successful they are is to be determined by the othe rplayers.

On this business of the High Priest's/Emperor's cryptic message, I'm open as to its meaning; the group's interp might be better than Bailey's pompous pronouncements.

[Theosophus Grey]

Loftis wanted the weapon as well, and it was a given that he would double cross them at some point.

Alexis, are you referring to the Devil's Flute-like gun mentioned as being at the Temple, or something else?  I'd like to tie in a post with the dragons and Loftis.

[Theosophus Grey]

Bailey and his little cadre of "infiltration detectors" are not really sure even what it is they're looking for; its just becoming maddeningly common to hear complacently-unshielded comments that seem sinister in origin, so they are trying to pin down exactly who and where... how successful they are is to be determined by the othe rplayers.

On this business of the High Priest's/Emperor's cryptic message, I'm open as to its meaning; the group's interp might be better than Bailey's pompous pronouncements.

That's the beauty of prophesies, they mean different things to different people, and none entirely correct...

[Alexis Voltaire]

Alexis, are you referring to the Devil's Flute-like gun mentioned as being at the Temple, or something else?  I'd like to tie in a post with the dragons and Loftis.

No, it's actually Frank's rifle.

The Drene-Vah have wanted it for some time because it's so destructive, and they want something with a big advantage over any other weapons humans have. They probably first learned about it by 'watching and listening' to humans on the moon. It's possible that someone else at the Botanical Society's research station knew about its existence, and when they were far enough away from any help, the Drene-Vah captured them, hoping to find out more information. They found out some things, but not enough to risk coming back to the moon to get it. (the Drene-Vah base was destroyed right after this.) So they waited for an opportunity to see if it was really as powerful as they had heard, and that came when Frank took it with him to mars. Part of the mission of the rebel dragons that were near the temple when it was attacked the second time was to find out how powerful it really was, and that part of the mission was successful. ('we got what we came for')

One of the keys was destroyed during the first attack on the temple, something that was thought to be near-impossible. It wasn't until after the Badger left that someone thought to ask just what had destroyed the key. Loftis suspected that there was a weapon on the badger that was capable, and he didn't want it happening again (for obvious reasons.) After gathering some information, (possibly from the Drene-Vah) found out that there was not only was there a weapon on the badger that could destroy the keys, it was made of neptunium. (a weapon against the beast, or at least protection)

Loftis found out that the Drene-Vah want it as well, so he made a deal with them to get it. Both Loftis and the Drene-Vah know (but don't openly show) that whoever gets it first will double cross the other just as soon as it happens, but for now they are making use of one another.

[MWBailey]

The USAS Sutter's Revenge is, as the name implies, American in origin; it is one of a type of specialized ship that was never intended for military service, but which has nonetheless proven to be sought-after for its sheer imposing looks and its speed capability, not to mention the sheer size of a load of bombs (or other cargo, of course) it is capable of carrying.

Basically, it's what another author in a different story (Asimov, I think, but i'm not entirely sure about that) called a "Jupiter Diver,"  built, powered, stressed, and designed specifically for diving into the upper atmosphere of a gas giant, for the purpose of carrying off a sizable load of gaseous raw product, much the same way that some firefighting airplanes scoop up river or lake water to be dumped on a nearby fire. In appearance, to my mind, it appears much like the huge "Trans U" Reaver ship encountered in the Firefly series. (the one they flew under, and about which the doctor joked about "campfire stories"). but of course, Captain Jack Horowicz is no reaver, and neither are his crew of twelve odds-n'-sods miners.

Teh ship's turbines, steamjet directional jets, retro system, all are enclosed by the airframe of teh ship; it carries twelve rapid-fire plasmic blast cannons: 7 in the nose, and 5 in remote-controlled turrets on teh dorsal, belly, and stern portions of the ship. Also  in the nose are three EM pulse weapons (sort of like repulsor/tractor beams), four rocket tubes fore, and two aft, and a rear cargo door that can be opened in flight to facilitate the dropping of bombs or other devices. She has wings and tail-fins airplane-style from her very inception. She is not outwardly very highly customized save for the weaponry, but inside she is nothing like her original specs. Her engines are of the steam turbine, hydrogen flare rocket, and Aether turbine varieties; the turbines are essentially the same design as those in the
Jaguarundi, save that they are at least three times as large -- but they are not quite as powerful, however, and so the Sutters Revenge, while being a very fast ship, is not as fast as the Jaguarundi.

I'm thinking it was chosen as the rendezvous with Zhan because it's not the Jaguarundi or the Badger, both rather sensitive commodities (especially since the Jaguarundi has proven to be essentially an undercover, and very powerful, flying resonance weapon; if it falls into the wrong hands and they figure out how to operate it...!!! -- which is also why Capn Cal and Zhieh are going to stage a sudden departure pretty soon; the gov't. always seems to want to impound the craft and pick it apart...

Also, the Sutter's Revenge being used for solids mining now and not so much gaseous product  gathering, she has a rather huge hold that can accommodate so many dragons and their companions.

[MWBailey]

I hope I did not overstep with the horseflies...it just seemed to be too good an idea to pass up. talk about a horsey situation ...no, don't shoot me, please...

[Alexis Voltaire]

No problems, that was hilarious! 

I will be going somewhere tomorrow, so I may not be able to post until late tomorrow, or on Sunday.

[MWBailey]

AWWWwwww... :'(

Seriously though, have fun. Its for the best, I have a play with the dulcimer society tomorrow (well...this AM in a few hours at any rate), so I'll be out as well...