Richard Pearman
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graptopetalum.bsky.social
Richard Pearman
@graptopetalum.bsky.social
470 followers 280 following 390 posts
Science fiction writer working on a "Messianic space Narnia" series.
Collects cacti and succulents.
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graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips December 5 screen
Acolyte, Clindar is with Flaanin, the acting, acting high priestess.
From "Tales of Midbar: Heretical Gods" - www.inkitt.com/stories/497649
Background: A beautiful teenage blonde girl with brown skin laying down and sucking pink gas from a transparent ball. Flaannin started talking to a faharni hipsick about what had been reported on the news. Then Miandri appeared on the screen. She looked in a worse state than the last time I'd seen her, the previous night. Her hair was a mess and it looked as if somebody had attacked her with paintbrushes with several different colors of paint. Of course, she was still holding a gas ball. A banner at the bottom of the screen described her as Victim's daughter - Targraph. "It was totally harsh of the monsters," she said. "I've been harshed on by avatars don't use Old Magic don't get psychic girls raped don't make teenage anavim think you're going to fornicate them and then fornicate the school councilor instead or was that Haprihagfen but Breeze is totally friends with Eleprin oh and play Fetmish by the proper rules although they're totally confusing but the monsters totally need to learn to express their feelings in a peaceful way rather than totally massacring the leaders of Benai Nibeyim although of course Sixteen escaped she totally killed that rape gang but if I can't marry Clindar why should she be eligible because her marriage wasn't consummated so she's a virgin and killed Utnerata but she totally resurrected and came here with Clindar and Breeze to harsh on me and get the keys ..."
December 5, 2025 at 10:51 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
Ice had told us that we were only revealing that anavim could be transported between universes but I wasn't sure about her reasoning.
New chapter "Tales of Midbar: Ghost Mage"
www.inkitt.com/stories/6320...
#writingcommunity #sciencefiction
A man with blue skin, yellow hair with black ribbons and a yellow beard and moustache. He's wearing a blue shirt and red cloak with a high collar. AI picture from Night Cafe and is supposed to be the man from Midbar-Hud. It didn't put ribbons on his beard and moustache.
December 5, 2025 at 10:32 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips December 4 city
Aristocratic boy mum, Fenusara, is considering renting a house to be near her son, Printorac, who's starting University.
From "Tales of Midbar: Poisoned Well" - www.inkitt.com/stories/635659
Background: A potted succulent with rosettes of leaves on long stems (Aeonium). Me: Or the president's daughter? Gardac: She's a known harlot! Comedians would like to make jokes about how she's fornicated more people than most Temple Prostitutes but people feel sorry for her because she's pretty and got kidnapped by those Nuhara and XT terrorists which included her former school councilor and then spent a few hours in a geldeen with Sixteen's brother-in-law and she has some messed up history with Sixteen's husband! Me: I really don't like these paintings though but I'm sure we could easily paint over them. Realtor: No! These were done by the famous painter Urgafarl Braskol in the 9th century! Remember, this is a protected, historic building. You're not allowed to make any changes that are likely to be hard to undo. It also needs to be possible for people to come and look at the artwork and architecture. The plus side of this is that the department will do much of your maintenance at no extra cost. They'll even send gardeners to take care of the plants. Me: Do you have any of those things that protect against magic, psychics and teleporters? Realtor: There are no Aeoniums but there are Plectranthus and a couple of Pachypodiums. You won't be allowed to plant anything in the garden or conservatory but you can grow potted plants inside the house or on the veranda. Me: Would an idol of Derlgar help? Realtor: If it makes you feel better. I've lived in University City all my life and I've never had trouble with magi, psychics or teleporters.
December 4, 2025 at 6:49 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips December 3 dominant
Police captain, Hildru and police mage, Screld have brought detective Lumdar to see evidence relating to a cold case: Niscreldin, the apparent son of the victim.
From "Tales of Midbar: Ghost Mage" - www.inkitt.com/stories/632029
Background: The face of a teenage boy of South Asian appearance. Behind him is a steep chasm with a city and lakes at the bottom. "You're lying!" shouted Lumdar. "The Genome Detective says he's her son!" I shouted at Lumdar, who looked pretty terrified. One hand was half raised with a ring on one finger, which I was pretty sure was an artifact weapon. "Are you going to argue with that?" It occurred to me that Niscreldin might be a construct but Lumdar didn't need to know they had constructs. "My father," Niscreldin said calmly, "well before he was my father, persuaded her not to stay in an abusive situation." A lot of people around seemed to be getting out magic detectors. "No!" shouted Lumdar, backing away and waving his ring finger. "Don't listen to anything he says!" Then he spun round and started running back towards the car park like a lunatic. "Should somebody stop him?" asked Printorac, who was standing nearby with his monocle in. Eleprin stood beside him with glasses on. Yeah, not a mage, really! "Has he committed a crime?" I asked. I turned to Niscreldin. "Any idea what that was about?" "No," said Niscreldin. "He was convinced your mother was murdered by her father, step-mother and brother but clearly she wasn't," I said. "She's still alive," said Nisceldin, putting his arms out to his sides. "Perhaps this has something to do with her inheritance." "You've got six fingers on this hand," said Screld, taking hold of Niscreldian's left hand. "My mother's a polydactyl faharni," said Niscreldin, "the polydactylism allele's dominant. I'd have thought a faharni would know that!"
December 3, 2025 at 6:51 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips December 2 percent
I hope you took notes of yesterday's as that terminology is used here!
Clindar is confronting the controversial mage, Yoldasia.
From "Tales of Midbar: Secret Priest" - www.inkitt.com/stories/200642
Background: A beautiful brown-skinned, fair-haired, young woman, laying on her back and sucking pink vapor from a transparent ball. "I know I was bred by you, Benai Nibeyim, so Haprihagfen can't help me or recruit me, but they did Egrindreth. I only came back because you were threatening Haprihagfen with something if I didn't. I'm not exactly happy with your organization, as I'm sure you realize." "You're in no position to judge us." "What are the odds of a nibey and hipsickah with two anav children being friends with a nibeyah who had a katcheyah fathered by a hipsick? You're trying to breed anavim aren't you?" "That would be like totally cool," said Miandri. Yoldasia just stared at me with hatred. "If I got Miandri pregnant, the child would stand a fifty percent chance of being an anav or anavah. Of course, if you really wanted to breed anavim, you should give me an anavah." That pushed Yoldasia over the edge and she shook her clenched fists, "You're not worthy of an anavah! You're nothing! You'll never have a job. You'll never make any money! You'll never be a good husband! You're in no position to judge me or Benai Nibeyim! What do you think you can do, get your father to take us to court?" Oooo! They had an anavah! What's more she was terrified of what would happen if I met this anavah but didn't want to explain the situation to me. This probably meant I wouldn't sympathize with her reasoning. Most likely, she didn't like the anavah but the anavah and me would like each other and collaborate to do something Yoldasia wouldn't like. "Is that prophecy or a threat?" I asked. "Predestination," Yoldasia snapped cynically.
December 2, 2025 at 8:14 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
A hero makes a legendary attempt to rescue his love from an evil god!
New chapter of "Medusa's Head" - read it all! Vote, review, give feedback, discuss!
www.inkitt.com/stories/1582...
#fantasy #writingcommunity
A handsome, young man wearing a pink, frilly dress and jumping from a palace tower with a very small, beautiful woman on his back. AI picture from Night Cafe and is supposed to be - spoilers!
December 2, 2025 at 6:31 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips December 1 belong
Eleprin and her parents have just assumed false identities as followers of the unpopular Winemaker religion. Now she's playing with Breeze, a strange, Winemaker girl.
From "Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance" - www.inkitt.com/stories/618270
Background: a small girl standing near an alter with some metal doors in a cliff behind it. I was somewhat apprehensive as my new friend, Breeze led me from the refractory to the playground. She was smiling and hopping. I was doing as Mum had told me repeatedly to try to fit in and act normal. It was still black night of course but Breeze had a mage light. What sort of kids have mage lights? Children aren't supposed to use artifacts. Perhaps I was wrong about the mage light being generated by an artifact but I had some vague memory of hearing that only magi could use magic without artifacts. Breeze wanted to play priestesses. The boys went off by themselves to do something. "Temples are korbarist," said Breeze, "so what korbar do you want to be?" "The korbarists will persecute me if I'm a korbar!" I was looking back to make sure my parents weren't sneaking off without me. They were sitting at a table drinking wine with some Haprihagfen who had mage lights hovering round them. "Everybody belongs to a korbar," said Breeze. I decided that it was better to display my ignorance to her than an adult who was more likely to figure out that I wasn't a real Winemaker so I asked, "What's a korbar?" "There are four korbarim, it's a Semic word so if you have more than one of them you put 'im' on the end. Most people are hipsickim, they're a bit stupid and aren't psychic but most people like them. Then there's nibeyim, they have some psychic powers, like mind reading and can foresee the future a bit. They're smart and good at working things out but most people don't like them. Then there's katcheyim, they're psychic and about as powerful as nibeyim but they tend to be crazy but most people like them more than nibeyim. Then, lastly, the rarest korbar is anav! They're like nibeyim and katcheyim mixed together and are very powerful and they're also smart and know Yoho better than most people. Most people really hate anavim!"
December 1, 2025 at 6:41 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 30 number
Eleprin and Printorac have joined a parents' group at the University.
From "Tales of Midbar: Poisoned Well" - www.inkitt.com/stories/635659
Background: A small and rather dilapidated building with some swings and slides for small children around it. It's in an area of arid hills and dilapidated, old buildings. "Now," said Nairi, I think jumping in before a religious argument could start, "you're probably going to be told this repeatedly but the University and University City have an unusually high proportion of psychics and magi and even a number of teleporters and a few off-planeters, interdimensionals and, I think, at least one temporal migrant. It's ..." "You should have some plants here!" said the woman who was breastfeeding her baby. She was a hipsickah with a round face, and she seemed to be part faharni and part quippa. Her husband looked younger than her and was a nibey. I'd noticed the lack of plants of any sort around the school. "We don't have any so as not to upset psychics, magi and teleporters," said Nairi. "You should get some," I said, "the psychics, magi and teleporters won't care!" The anavim nodded. "Mage Hall's full of plants of a wide variety of types," said Griantrag. "I had wondered about that," said her husband.
November 30, 2025 at 11:17 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
It seemed that this Londrac Alliance was good at taking over territory with a combination of underhanded diplomacy and military mite.
New chapter of "Tales of Midbar: Ghost Mage" - read it all! Vote, review, give feedback, discuss!
www.inkitt.com/stories/6320...
#writingcommunity #sciencefiction
A beautiful, young woman with long, blonde, wavy hair, tanned skin, pointed ears and brown eyes. AI picture from Bing Image Create and is supposed to be the strange and beautiful Vandari. AI has problems with unknown races and mixed-race people and she's a mixture of unknown races! The other AI's I tried made her skin too light. She should really show her faharni ancestry more!
November 28, 2025 at 5:07 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
WIPSnips November 27 disorganize
Remember children to use magic responsibly.
From "Tales of Midbar: Ghost Mage" - www.inkitt.com/stories/632029
Background: A backstreet in a city of futuristic pyramids. In the treatment room, the apparent girl (although we now know this was Narim, who's a boy), was placed on a bed. "What's the problem?" asked Bonmoc. "A nasty rough girl put a spell on him," said Hitran. "She also had her boy mage with her so he may have done it," said Sanimeld. Bonmoc put on magic detector goggles and looked at Narim. There were a large number of associates bound to him in a disorganized way, unlike anything Bonmoc had seen before. This made residue from a recent spell impossible to detect. "There's a lot of magic on him," said Bonmoc, "but this looks as if it would have taken a long time to do. Did you put any magic on him yourself?" Narim made some unintelligible sounds. "Can he normally talk?" asked Bonmoc. "Of course!" said Hitran.
November 27, 2025 at 4:59 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 26 impede
Young Eleprin is going out with her parents and their new friends; Lishrashic and his wife, Iandris.
From "Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance" - www.inkitt.com/stories/618270
Background: A man of South Asian appearance kneeling by a car in a street at night. Lishrashic and Dad proceeded to discuss business. I tried to follow this but it was difficult for me. There seemed to be some weird logic to it that didn't make sense to me. "I suppose there are limits on what you can do in ..." Lishrashic started saying but just then he lurched forward, stopped by his seatbelt and the car jolted to a stop. "Progress impeded!" said the car's computer. "Car reverse six meters!" barked Lishrashic, desperately. The car reversed and stopped. Lishrashic fell back in his seat, gasping for air. I giggled. "What the fornication was that!" asked Iandris. "Do you have a spell on you?" "I thought this restaurant was in Minris!" said Lishrashic. "The town boundary is on the watershed between ..." I started to say. Criadria had been teaching me things visitors wanted to know. Sometimes people were interested in buying property or doing things that required knowing the town boundaries. I was also encouraged to try to direct them to things within the town boundaries so I needed to know where they were. Lishrasic got out the car and shouted, "Astrigis! I'm not leaving town! The restaurant's in the town boundaries!"
November 26, 2025 at 6:32 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 25 system
New students are on a tour of the university.
From "Tales of Midbar: Poisoned Well" - www.inkitt.com/stories/635659
Background: An astronomical observatory on a barren mountain top. "We knew a great deal about space before the Landing," said the astronomer with messy hair who was showing us round. "And after being here for fifteen millennia, you'd think we'd know everything. Well, we don't. There are things that change in ways we hadn't predicted. Every so often, some small, dark object will come close enough to us for us to see. There's a rogue planet approaching with five large, possibly habitable moons. There are rather a lot of things we've launched, which are still floating around this solar system and we've lost track of some of them but might find them again. We're looking out for signs of intelligent life nearby, particularly after the Mysterious Monsters arrived and it became apparent the Phantoms are still in our solar system. Even before that we'd noticed a number of stars dimming because megastructures were being built around them. As this has military implications, there are things I'm not allowed to tell you. We also have a tachyon communicator but it rarely picks up a signal and what we have got hasn't been very useful." Then he looked right at Water-Current and myself as if we were responsible and said, "It would help if teleporters would be more forthcoming about certain things."
November 25, 2025 at 4:50 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
The woman grabbed the cover to keep it on her and strange purple flames erupted from the bed and filled the room.
New chapter of "Medusa's Head' - read it all! Vote, review, give feedback, discuss!
www.inkitt.com/stories/1582...
#writingcommunity #fantasy
AI picture from Bing Image Create and is supposed to be Aphrodite's vimana. This is the only picture that had it floating in the sky and didn't have an inappropriate background, which is what happened with Ideogram.
November 25, 2025 at 4:14 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 24 debut
I don't use this word so I'm going with the first time Breeze goes out in the street after being officially recognized as the new Vineyard Magis.
From "Tales of Midbar: Heretical Gods" - www.inkitt.com/stories/497649
Background: a red-haired girl with her hair in a bun. "I'm a mage," said Narim. "No, you're not," said Breeze. "You're a mess, what did you do, use artifacts to bind associates to yourself?" "That's very dangerous," I said. "It's cleverer than just getting a magis to bind associates to you," said Narim. "No, because it never works well," said Breeze. "Magis propaganda!" said Narim. "Anyway, Yoldasia's back there and I've heard a few people mention avatars and Printorac, who wrote the book on avatars but it isn't very good." "Well, I can't help it that there's a serious lack of real avatars," said Printorac, "and they wouldn't let me talk to Mildras and Aublelma." "The point is," said Narim, briefly giving Printorac an odd look, "that I don't think this is a conference for artifact collectors. I think it's that big mage conference about the avatars and stuff." "Had any erections in the last few hours?" I asked. "They're going to announce who the new magis is," said Narim, looking worried. "They already did," said Breeze, "so I don't have to keep it a secret now." Then she shouted, "I, Breeze, clamet of Beit Meldren, am the new Vineyard magis!" I realized that I was going to have to think of a way to explain to my parents why both me and the magis had been allowed in the conference and they hadn't, without telling them I was a mage. "I know a lot more about magic than you!" said Narim. "No, you don't!" said Breeze. "I've been taking lessons from Ice and other Haprihagfen magi for years. How do you think I knew about your associates without using a magic detector?"
November 24, 2025 at 9:57 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips global November 23
I couldn't find this word so I went with out first look at the planet Dh-urgmore.
From "Tales of Midbar: Children's Crusade" - www.inkitt.com/stories/628012
Background: A spaceship near an earthlike planet. "Right," said Garry, "launch in four, three, two, one!" I was pulled downward into my couch with a force not even close to Tempest gravity, not to mention what I'd experienced leaving that planet. There was just one screen in front of Gary's seat, which at first just seemed to be black. Then a small, craggy moon or asteroid came into view. Then the half illuminated disc of Dh-urghmor itself, swirls of cloud with some glimpses of blue sea beneith. I'd have been happier it had been a desert planet like Midbar, I really didn't want another water world!
November 23, 2025 at 9:55 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 21 direction
Clindar's got himself into a legal mess and his estranged sister is doing weird things.
From "Tales of Midbar: Secret Priest" - www.inkitt.com/stories/200642
Backgriound: a teenage girl of South Asian appearance with her hair in a bun and wearing a sari. Dad had taken me to the court house to try to get an injunction that would allow me to stay in school until the legal matters were settled. This was an old, stone building from before the Cataclysm with the interior walls painted in a scheme which I'm sure was deliberately chosen to be depressing. I was sitting in the corridor as I might be required to testify and shouldn't know what was happening with the case. I was feeling worthless and nervous and angry so I was looking at the floor with my firsts clenched. I felt a burst of power from the direction of the women's toilet. This faded to the same feeling of power I'd had when Egrindreth had come to our house. Egrindreth and another girl came out and walked over to me. The companion seemed to be the same one as before but in the white electric light I could see she had the light skin of a bennis but her ears weren't pointed.
November 22, 2025 at 12:00 AM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
Urtigo says, "Yes, well if they not your robots, you can not be expected to explain actions and not mind if we destroy them."
New chapter of "Tales of Midbar: Ghost Mage"
www.inkitt.com/stories/6320...
#writingcommunity #sciencefiction
Strange looking vehical with people sitting on it on a road in arid mountains in red light. AI picture is Bing Image Create but I darkened it a bit in Gimp. It's supposed to be one of the vehicles from the spaceship but isn't really what I wanted. All the other AI's I tried produced vehicles that looked too small and normal-looking.
November 21, 2025 at 5:31 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 20 special
Young Eleprin's parents have decided to move to a creepy village and assume false identities as members of the unpopular Winemaker religion. They've just met a Winemaker woman.
From "Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance" - www.inkitt.com/stories/618270
Background: a woman with long, grey hair in creepy room. "Well we," Dad said, "my wife and daughter and myself, are Winemakers and were driven out of Grishnarl by Nuhara persecution, although the Trulists didn't exactly stand up for us." "Typical," said the woman. "They make all these noises about equal rights for everybody and then don't do anything useful when there's a real problem." "Anyway," said Dad, "we came here because we'd heard that there was a Winemaker community here. Unfortunately, we spent most our money moving so I was wondering if you could help us." "The only Winemakers in Minris, well, the only ones who are active in anything that can be called a 'Winemaker community', are the inhabitants of the Vinyard," said the woman. "We're an order called 'Haprihagfen', although everybody here just calls us 'Winemakers'. Although, of course, anybody can become a Winemaker, or should be able to if the Trulists hadn't outlawed religious conversion, joining our order requires rather more specific qualifications ..." "Being minions," I said. The woman looked me in the eyes and I knew I'd annoyed her, and she said, "Your daughter's rather special, isn't she?" "I'm important!" I said. "Is that the same as being special?" There was silence for a second and then Mum said, "Of course she's special." "To us," said Dad, "but she's really a very normal girl but there's nothing wrong with that." I crossed my arms and pouted at him.
November 20, 2025 at 6:39 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 19 third
Delegates at an interdimensional diplomatic meeting are introducing themselves.
From "Tales of Midbar: Ghost Mage" - www.inkitt.com/stories/632029
Background: what looks like a glass sphere in a cage with a city behind it. "Reflesc, chairperson of the Mage Council." The octopus in the tank thrashed its, well I suppose her, tentacles about. "Vellinna," said the bennis, "legal advisor for the Mage Council." "Clindar, Grand Priest of Benai Nibeyim." "Dwendra, Grand Farmer of Benai Nibeyim." "Mascrin, secretary of the Human Community Council." "Jargarmantrican," said the black hairy, "emissary of Kledris Valley." "Tobrac lol o'Deadwood on Midbar," said the man from Midbar-Swentil, "Negotiator for Two Sun Colony." "Grindin lol o'Touchdown City on Midbar," said his female companion, "Tobrac's assistant." "Bruard Vrastmin the third," said the man from Midbar-Hud. "Negotiator for Golden Sands Colony." "I'm his assistant," said the woman, who had yellow skin and sparkling blue hair. Her dress was simple, tight, low cut and sparkling white. "My name's Kemdrapni Sardin."
November 19, 2025 at 10:13 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
I've started a new story to enter for the Old Gods, New Feelings contest.
www.inkitt.com/stories/1582... - read it all! Vote, review, give feedback, discuss!
#writingcommunity #fantasy
Silhouette of a woman with her arms raised and purple snakes radiating from her head. Text: MEDUSER'S HEAD A LEGEND FROM THE TALES OF MIDBAR MULTIVERSE RICHARD PEARMAN I don't use AI for book covers. I decided to do the sort of simple cover that seems to be popular now. The type I criticize for looking as if they took 30 mins in a vector graphics program. This took me 20 mins in Inkscape (a free vector graphics program)!
November 18, 2025 at 8:39 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 18 retrograde
It took me a while to find a use of this word.
Eleprin and Printorac are discussing plans with the mysterious leader of a vigilante group.
From "Tales of Midbar: Heretical Gods" - www.inkitt.com/stories/497649
"We need to assassinate Nuhar Vaclan, his brothers, his sons and Book Bearers. Aramator will collapse and cease to be a threat. It needs to be done soon and they need to be assassinated in a short space of time so the Aramatoran leadership can't figure out what's happening." "That would require a number of assassins who can blend in in Aramator," said Eagle, "almost certainly quippas who speak fluent Quippa and are familiar not just with Nuhara teachings but the finer points of Aramatoran culture, are familiar with Navinuharbilag including their targets and those around them. I have nobody like that." "We don't either," I said. "I guess we'll just have to go with your evacuation plan." "She's not being honest," said the receptionist. The obvious way to carry out the assassinations was to send anavim. We'd put this to the members of Beit Cohen and been told in no uncertain terms that all anavim (including Clindar and Dwendra) were strictly prohibited from doing that sort of thing. In spite of the fact that Printorac told them that he'd foreseen that the alternative was colossal loss of human life they'd still refused. They'd pointed out that refraining from such things was very important now that it was widely known that teleporters existed and some were partly responsible for the two worst acts of terrorism since the Cataclysm. "There is another option. Only a few people are capable of carrying it out and it's rather a retrograde edge on ring dive so you should prepare your evacuation plan. However, I've foreseen things will be better if we fight the Monsters." "There's also the problem," said Eagle, "are the Monsters going to act on a rumour? How are we going to provoke an attack at a particular time?" "Hopefully we'll get their attention with the rumours," I said, "in a few days, we'll have Aublelma dismember a Nuhara rape gang member in a very public situation and then run into the Nuhara quarter. That will hopefully provoke a Monster attack."
November 18, 2025 at 8:33 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 17 spend
I went with "cost" and "expensive" instead.
Eleprin is asking her parents how her friends can disappear and obtain false identities the way her family did.
From "Tales of Midbar: Heretical Gods" - www.inkitt.com/stories/497649
Background: A teenage girl of South Asian appearance with short hair and wearing a sari with a light floating near her. "Why have you got a mage ..?" asked Dad. "Why the feces are you associating with people who get into this sort of trouble?" "What, hotel guests who don't want to be Temple Prostitutes?" "I don't think the priesthood would send magi to assassinate people for that," said Dad. "It's a bit more complicated but it's probably best if you don't know the details." "What's the time?" asked Mum, "it isn't sapphire light yet?" "These people are expensive," said Dad. "It cost us nearly everything we had!" "Yeah, well this is the backup plan." "What's the main plan?" asked Dad. "Best if you don't know."
November 17, 2025 at 9:12 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 16 run
Rhadimund is in a jettisoned cargo pod which is sinking on the super-earth water world planet Tempest.
From "Tales of Midbar: Children's Crusade" - www.inkitt.com/stories/628012
Background: A dark spaceship corridor with water coming in and people running around. Infra-red picture of Rhadimund in a slanting corridor with lots of beams and hatches. Water is dripping in and some is flowing over the floor. A few humans are staggering around and some shouts and screams can be heard. Some injured and dead (identifiable by their lower body temperatures) are lying on the floor. Rhadimund is running in a crowd along a corridor. Rhadimund: I hope we've found the way out! This seems to be upward and where a lot of people are going. Harry: Why don't you teleport out? Rhadimund: I don't want to leave you! Harry: I'm sure I can escape! I know you can't teleport into water and only have a small altitude range.
November 16, 2025 at 9:20 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
#WIPSnips November 14 week
I don't really use this word because on Midbar people tend to go by three day light cycles because of the interaction between the natural 18 hour days and the artificial 24 hour ones.
From "Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance" - www.inkitt.com/stories/618270
Background: A frightened girl of South Asian appearance in a creepy wood. "It's worship today," said Mum. "It's the second day of the light cycle," I said. "Winemakers worship every seven days," said Dad, "not on the first day of every second light cycle, like Trulists do." "Fortunately, the hotel has pamphlets about Winemaker worship," said Mum, waving a brightly colored bit of glossy paper. "It says that Winemakers don't put on special clothing or makeup for worship, which I suppose simplifies things. Apparently, those pre-Cataclism outfits the Haprihagfen wear are mostly for the benefit of tourists; most Winemakers, even Haprihagfen, dress normally most the time." "Yes, I know," I said.
November 14, 2025 at 10:15 PM
graptopetalum.bsky.social
New chapter of "Tales of Midbar: Ghost Mage" - read it all! Vote, review, give feedback, discuss!
www.inkitt.com/stories/6320...
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A burning spaceship in a red sky with some mountains below. Clearly, the confusion spell worked because I instantly felt rather confused. I was still with a male anav and two anavot but it was brighter with a red dwarf shining in the sky and street lights. I was facing a group of people, some of whom were wearing gray robes, had light colored beards or both. They were waving signs in Faharni saying things like, KILL ALL TELEPORTERS, REVENGE FOR NAVINUHARBILAG and FREE NUHAR ZORG. I was wearing different clothes and my body felt wrong. A burning spaceship in a red sky with some mountains below. AI picture is from Night Cafe and is supposed to be the KR 47 coming in to crash. Bing refused to do this, claiming it was "unsafe"! I didn't ask for any humans to be in the picture. There are loads of similar images in "Star Trek", "Star Wars", "Doctor Who" and a load of other U or PG-rated movies and TV shows! Did Bing think it would inspire people to shoot down alien spaceships on desert planets?
November 14, 2025 at 5:21 PM